# The DAO Hack

By [mnk](https://paragraph.com/@mnkcrypto) · 2022-06-08

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The token sale was set to last 28 days, during which the tokens were “locked up,” and after which the DAO would begin to operate. By three weeks into the token sale, The DAO had raised more than $150 million from more than 11,000 investors, making it one of the largest crowdfunding campaigns in history at the time. However, even before the token sale had concluded, several onlookers expressed concerns about vulnerabilities in The DAO’s code. More specifically, computer scientists were concerned that a bug in The DAO’s wallet smart contracts would allow them to be drained. While programmers attempted to fix the bug, an attacker exploited the vulnerability and began siphoning funds from The DAO.

In the meantime, the Ethereum community debated how to respond to the attack. The DAO’s failure would not only mean financial loss for investors, but it also bore dire repercussions for the nascent Ethereum network. The DAO had become such a heavily invested project that its contracts contained approximately 14% of all ether (ETH) in circulation at the time. At only one year old, the promising Ethereum technology and community was faced with a genuine existential threat.

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*Originally published on [mnk](https://paragraph.com/@mnkcrypto/the-dao-hack)*