The DAO hack of 2016 was perhaps the singular event that shaped Ethereum’s trajectory.
After $55 million worth of ether (ETH), the native cryptocurrency on Ethereum, was stolen from users of the dapp, Ethereum developers eventually reached consensus to turn back the clock, reverse the DAO hack transactions and restore users’ lost ETH. This rollback could only be implemented through a network-wide change called a hard fork. The fork split the blockchain in two: Ethereum and Ethereum Classic.
Bloomberg reporter Matt Leising sits down with key protagonists Griff Green of Giveth, Emin Gun Sirer of Ava Labs and Taylor Monahan of MyCrypto to reflect on the $55 million shockwave and the after-effects four years later. They recall the theft, reflect on how the decision was made on the chain split and discuss what blockchain communities beyond Ethereum should learn from this event.
More on Ethereum’s fifth anniversary: https://www.coindesk.com/ethereum-at-five
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