The DAO
One of the earliest decentralized projects was known as the DAO, or Decentralized Autonomous Organization. The DAO was meant to function as a VC fund of sorts for blockchain projects and was built so that people could buy a stake in the organization (and its profits) using Ethereum. The project itself was run using the Ethereum blockchain and smart contracts to control funds and manage voting. The project was a massive success, managing to raise about $250 million in funds at a time when Ethereum was trading for around $20.
Unfortunately, a flaw in the smart contract code used to operate the DAO resulted in a loophole that a hacker was able to exploit. Because of the subtle bugs in the smart contracts, the attacker was able to withdraw ...
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