Читать книгу Cryptocurrency All-in-One For Dummies онлайн

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The first significant threat to Ethereum came from the hack of The DAO. An unexpected code path in The DAO’s contract allowed any sophisticated user to withdraw funds. An unknown user managed to remove about $50 million before he could be stopped.

The Ethereum community debated bitterly about whether it could or should reclaim the Ether. The DAO hacker had not technically done anything wrong or even hacked the system. Fundamentalists within the Ethereum community felt that code was law and, therefore, nothing should be done to recover the funds.

The very thing that made Ethereum strong was also its greatest weakness. Decentralization, immutability, and autonomy meant no central authority could quickly decide what to do. There was also no one to punish for the misuse of the system. It really did not have any consumer protection measures. It was a new frontier, like the software name suggested.

After spending several weeks discussing the problem, the Ethereum community decided to shut down The DAO and create a new Ethereum. This process is called hard forking. When the Ethereum community hard-forked the network, it reversed the transaction the hacker had committed. It also created two Ethereums: Ethereum and Ethereum Classic.