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What Was “The DAO Hack” and What Were Its Consequences for Ethereum?

"The DAO" was an early, large-scale decentralized venture capital fund launched on Ethereum in 2016. A hacker exploited a "reentrancy" vulnerability in its smart contract code, draining over 3.6 million ETH, worth about $50 million at the time.

The incident was a major crisis for the young Ethereum network. To reverse the theft, the Ethereum community controversially decided to execute a "hard fork" of the blockchain, creating a new version of the ledger.

This led to a permanent split, resulting in two separate blockchains: Ethereum (ETH) and the original, unaltered chain, Ethereum Classic (ETC).

What Is the Difference between a Hard Fork and a Soft Fork in Cryptocurrency?
What Is the Difference between a Soft Fork and a Hard Fork?
How Does a Hard Fork Differ from a Soft Fork in Terms of Network Consensus?
What Is the Primary Difference between a Hard Fork and a Soft Fork in Blockchain Governance?