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Ocean, fetch.ai dispute has exploded with legal threats


A dispute between fetch.ai CEO Humayun Sheikh and the Ocean Protocol Foundation has escalated into legal threats, onchain accusations, and a backlash from Binance, all centered around nearly 286 million fetch.ai (FET) tokens worth nearly $84 million.

The conflict stems from Artificial Superintelligence (ASI) Alliance.

On Wednesday, Sheikh it is said That ocean protocol minted and transferred millions of ocean tokens before the merger. He said the project later converted them to FET and transferred the large sum to centralized exchanges and market making companies without proper disclosure.

“If Ocean as a stand-alone project did this, it would be classified as a pulling of the rug,” Sheikh wrote in X, detailing how 719 million oceans were minted in 2023, with 661 million swapped for 286 million fet in July 2025. He said that parts of these tokens were subsequently transferred or liquidated.

Source: Humayun Sheikh

Binance restricts support for ocean tokens

Amid rising controversy, Crypto Exchange binance announced That it will stop support for ocean deposits starting next Monday, October 20.

While the exchange said users can still make deposits using other supported networks, it said ERC-20 deposits made after October 20 “will not be credited and may lead to asset loss.”

Although the exchange did not cite the dispute as the reason for the move, limiting ERC-20 deposits suggests the exchange is conducting internal risk controls or investigations, as many of the disputed tokens are in Ethereum.

Sheikh interpreted Binance’s decision to stop support for tokens as “listening” to its public has called on X to investigate token transfers of the ocean protocol.

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Sheikh promised class action lawsuits, Ocean Protocol responded

Sheikh promised To fund class action lawsuits across three or more jurisdictions and called on Binance, GSR and Exagroup to investigate. He also called on fet tokenholders to prepare evidence against the ocean protocol, as he said he would build a channel for them to submit their claims.

Ocean Protocol responded to X, denying the allegations and describing them as “baseless claims and malicious rumours.”

In an official statement to X, the company said that its Treasury is intact and that it proposed to waive confidentiality on the findings of an adjudicator related to the dispute. Ocean claimed that Sheikh rejected this proposal.

Source: Ocean Protocol

“The ocean is working and active,” the post said. “We are preparing responses to various baseless claims and allegations while respecting the ambits of the law.”

The mention of an adjudicator suggests that the conflict has reached a formal legal arbitration, likely under the integration framework that governs the ASI Alliance’s signature changes.

Reached by Cointelegraph Fetch.ai and Ocean Protocol, but did not receive a response by publication.

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