The dispute between Fetch.ai and Ocean Protocol Foundation appears to be nearing a resolution as both parties explore avenues to find common ground and avoid an escalation into a full-blown legal confrontation.
Fetch.ai announced on Thursday that it would withdraw all pending legal claims against the Ocean Protocol Foundation on the condition that the foundation returns the 286 million Fetch.ai (FET) tokens that were reportedly sold during their merger.
"They are expecting a legal proposal from us for the return of the tokens," stated Fetch.ai CEO Humayun Sheikh during an X Spaces session on Thursday. He added,
"You can have my letter tomorrow. The offer is simple: give my community back the tokens. I will drop every legal claim."
Sheikh also proposed to cover the legal expenses associated with the pending contract, which would facilitate the recovery of the tokens.
GeoStaking, a validator node based on FET and the protocol that assisted in mediating the agreement, indicated that Ocean Protocol would consent to returning the tokens if the offer was formally documented.
The formal offer could be put in writing as early as Friday, Sheikh mentioned during the X Spaces event.
This proposed agreement would allow both parties to resolve their disagreements without resorting to a protracted lawsuit, which could potentially harm the reputation and financial standing of both entities.
This latest proposal emerges just days after Sheikh offered a $250,000 reward for additional information regarding the signatories of OceanDAO’s multisignature wallet and their ties to the Ocean Protocol Foundation.
A multisignature, or multisig, wallet is a type of cryptocurrency wallet that requires multiple digital signatures to authorize and complete a transaction.
Ocean Protocol Faces Allegations of a $120 Million Token Dump
Despite Ocean Protocol's denial of any misappropriation, blockchain data suggests that a multisignature wallet associated with Ocean Protocol converted approximately 661 million Ocean tokens into 286 million FET coins. This transaction was valued at around $120 million at the time, according to blockchain data platform Bubblemaps.
Specifically, 160 million FET tokens were transferred to Binance, and an additional 109 million were sent to GSR Markets.
Ocean Protocol withdrew from the Artificial Superintelligence Alliance on October 9, without any mention of the token transfers.
Since the announcement of the Artificial Superintelligence Alliance (ASI) in March 2024, the FET token has experienced a significant decline, falling by over 93% from its peak of $3.22 to approximately $0.26 at the time of reporting.
However, Bruce Pon, the founder of Ocean Protocol, argued that the price drop was not directly caused by Ocean Protocol's departure from the ASI. In a response published on Thursday, he stated,
"[The 93% drop] was due to the broader market sentiment and volatility, SingularityNet and Fetch’s draining of liquidity from the entire community by dumping upwards of $500 million worth of $FET tokens, a reckless TRNR deal that failed to anticipate crypto dropping more than 45% [...]"
Pon added that Ocean Protocol decided it could not in good conscience remain a part of the ASI Alliance and promised to release a detailed rebuttal to all recent allegations.