Verify a decision

{"actor":"system:backfill","investigation_id":"333bd8b0-1242-44f3-bf3c-a2d8469ef552","kind":"publish","page_slug":"the-dao","published_at":"2026-05-25T18:19:59.688Z","sequence_num":1,"snapshot":{"content_type":"investigation","entity_name":"The DAO","sections":[{"content":"","heading":"","severity":"medium","sources":[{"credibility":3,"name":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_DAO","type":"other","url":""},{"credibility":3,"name":"https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2016/05/12/the-dao-or-how-a-leaderless-ethereum-project-raised-50-million","type":"other","url":""},{"credibility":3,"name":"https://bitcoinmagazine.com/business/the-dao-raises-more-than-million-in-world-s-largest-crowdfunding-to-date-1463422191","type":"other","url":""}]},{"content":"","heading":"","severity":"medium","sources":[{"credibility":3,"name":"https://bitcoinmagazine.com/business/the-dao-raises-more-than-million-in-world-s-largest-crowdfunding-to-date-1463422191","type":"other","url":""},{"credibility":3,"name":"https://www.sec.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2017-131","type":"other","url":""},{"credibility":3,"name":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_DAO","type":"other","url":""}]},{"content":"","heading":"","severity":"medium","sources":[{"credibility":3,"name":"https://blog.chain.link/reentrancy-attacks-and-the-dao-hack/","type":"other","url":""},{"credibility":3,"name":"https://www.gemini.com/cryptopedia/the-dao-hack-makerdao","type":"other","url":""},{"credibility":3,"name":"https://www.coindesk.com/consensus-magazine/2023/05/09/coindesk-turns-10-how-the-dao-hack-changed-ethereum-and-crypto","type":"other","url":""},{"credibility":3,"name":"https://beincrypto.com/learn/dao-hack-explained/","type":"other","url":""},{"credibility":3,"name":"https://labs.withsecure.com/publications/the-hack-that-changed-the-blockchain-perspective","type":"other","url":""}]},{"content":"","heading":"","severity":"medium","sources":[{"credibility":3,"name":"https://www.coindesk.com/tech/2016/07/20/ethereum-executes-blockchain-hard-fork-to-return-dao-funds","type":"other","url":""},{"credibility":3,"name":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethereum_Classic","type":"other","url":""},{"credibility":3,"name":"https://www.gemini.com/cryptopedia/the-dao-hack-makerdao","type":"other","url":""},{"credibility":3,"name":"https://beincrypto.com/learn/dao-hack-explained/","type":"other","url":""},{"credibility":3,"name":"https://medium.com/bankless-dao/not-forking-around-the-dao-hack-7a3e974ff110","type":"other","url":""}]},{"content":"","heading":"","severity":"medium","sources":[{"credibility":3,"name":"https://www.theblock.co/post/135017/new-research-claims-to-identify-the-man-who-hacked-the-dao","type":"other","url":""},{"credibility":3,"name":"https://decrypt.co/93547/crypto-ceo-denies-11-billion-ethereum-dao-hack","type":"other","url":""},{"credibility":3,"name":"https://gizmodo.com/hacker-behind-11-billion-crypto-theft-believed-identif-1848577454","type":"other","url":""},{"credibility":3,"name":"https://crypto-economy.com/chainalysis-investigation-ties-ex-tenx-ceo-toby-hoenisch-to-2016-the-dao-hack/","type":"other","url":""}]},{"content":"","heading":"","severity":"medium","sources":[{"credibility":3,"name":"https://www.sec.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2017-131","type":"other","url":""},{"credibility":3,"name":"https://www.sec.gov/files/litigation/investreport/34-81207.pdf","type":"other","url":""},{"credibility":3,"name":"https://corpgov.law.harvard.edu/2017/08/10/sec-confirms-that-some-initial-coin-offerings-are-illegal-unregistered-securities-offerings/","type":"other","url":""},{"credibility":3,"name":"https://corpgov.law.harvard.edu/2017/08/09/blockchain-and-initial-coin-offerings-sec-provides-first-u-s-securities-law-guidance/","type":"other","url":""}]},{"content":"","heading":"","severity":"medium","sources":[{"credibility":3,"name":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_DAO","type":"other","url":""},{"credibility":3,"name":"https://www.coindesk.com/consensus-magazine/2023/05/09/coindesk-turns-10-how-the-dao-hack-changed-ethereum-and-crypto","type":"other","url":""},{"credibility":3,"name":"https://blog.chain.link/reentrancy-attacks-and-the-dao-hack/","type":"other","url":""}]}],"sources_used":[],"summary":"The DAO was a decentralized autonomous organization launched on the Ethereum blockchain in April 2016 that raised approximately $150 million in Ether — the largest crowdfunding to date at the time — before being drained of 3.6 million ETH (roughly $50–60 million) on June 17, 2016, via a reentrancy vulnerability in its smart contract code. The hack triggered an acrimonious debate over blockchain immutability and led to a contentious hard fork of the Ethereum network on July 20, 2016, splitting it into Ethereum (ETH) and Ethereum Classic (ETC). In 2017 the U.S. SEC concluded that DAO tokens constituted unregistered securities, marking a landmark regulatory precedent for the entire crypto industry.","timeline":[{"date":"2016-04-30","event":"The DAO token crowdsale launches on the Ethereum blockchain, created by Slock.it developers led by Christoph Jentzsch.","source":""},{"date":"2016-05-12","event":"The DAO crowdsale surpasses $50 million raised — the largest crowdfunding in history at the time.","source":""},{"date":"2016-05-15","event":"Crowdsale exceeds $100 million in Ether raised.","source":""},{"date":"2016-05-28","event":"Crowdsale closes with approximately 12 million ETH (~$150 million) raised from the sale of 1.15 billion DAO tokens.","source":""},{"date":"2016-06-09","event":"Developer Peter Vessenes publishes a blog post warning of recursive-call vulnerabilities in Ethereum smart contracts.","source":""},{"date":"2016-06-12","event":"Slock.it's Stephan Tual publishes a post claiming The DAO is not at risk from the known recursive-call vulnerability.","source":""},{"date":"2016-06-16","event":"IC3 researchers publish further warnings about recursive-call vulnerabilities in Ethereum contracts.","source":""},{"date":"2016-06-17","event":"Attacker exploits reentrancy vulnerability in The DAO, draining 3.6 million ETH (~$50–60 million) into a child DAO contract subject to a 28-day holding period.","source":""},{"date":"2016-06-17","event":"Vitalik Buterin proposes a soft fork to blacklist attacker addresses; ETH price drops sharply from ~$20 to ~$13.","source":""},{"date":"2016-07-16","event":"Community vote on the hard fork: approximately 87% of participating ETH supports the fork, representing only 5.5% of total supply.","source":""},{"date":"2016-07-20","event":"Ethereum hard fork executed, moving drained funds to a recovery contract. Ethereum Classic (ETC) emerges as the continuation of the original unforked chain.","source":""},{"date":"2016-09-01","event":"DAO tokens delisted from major exchanges including Poloniex and Kraken; The DAO considered defunct.","source":""},{"date":"2017-07-25","event":"U.S. SEC issues investigative report concluding DAO tokens were unregistered securities; no charges filed but landmark precedent established.","source":""},{"date":"2022-02-22","event":"Forbes journalist Laura Shin alleges former TenX CEO Toby Hoenisch carried out the 2016 hack, based on Chainalysis blockchain analysis. Hoenisch denies the claim.","source":""}]},"v":1}