Where the panel landed
The panel split between treating the DAO hack as a fatal indictment of Ethereum governance and treating it as a painful early experiment. Tone Vays was the harshest critic, saying he had predicted the failure and arguing that the DAO’s structure was flawed from the start, while Professor Emin Gün Sirer defended the broader smart-contract and decentralized-organization concept despite the specific implementation failure. Gabriel Divay, Ian DeMartino, and Theo Goodman focused on the hard-fork dilemma, with most of the panel warning that reversing the hack would damage Ethereum’s claim to immutability.
What they were watching
The panel watched Ethereum and DAO markets break under pressure while Bitcoin passed $700 and continued its halving rally. Organic levels included more than $50 million in Ethereum taken from the DAO, the DAO token falling about 30%, Ethereum falling more than 16%, Bitcoin rising more than 30% for the week, and price predictions for the halving ranging from about $900 to $3,000.
The DAO Hack
The show opened with the DAO losing more than $50 million in Ethereum before funding a single project. Professor Sirer described the exploit as an attack on flawed contract structure, while Tone argued that the entire DAO model had been obviously dangerous from the start.
Hard Fork Or No Fork
The panel debated whether Ethereum should hard fork to stop the attacker from spending the funds. Gabriel, Tone, and Theo warned that reversing the transaction would create a slippery slope, while Ian framed it as a test of whether a majority in a cryptocurrency system can override a minority.
Smart Contracts Under Stress
Gabriel emphasized that without a strict external specification, the DAO’s code effectively was the contract. Professor Sirer defended the larger promise of smart contracts and DAOs, arguing that the failed vehicle did not invalidate the broader possibility of transparent programmable organizations.
Regulation, Liability, And Trust
Tone argued that the DAO showed why some regulation exists, not to identify users but to constrain institutions and offerings. The discussion repeatedly returned to who, if anyone, could claim funds were stolen when the DAO was designed to be neither a conventional company nor a conventional investment fund.
Bitcoin Price Passes $700
The second major story was Bitcoin’s continued rally, with the price passing $700 and rising more than 30% on the week. Gabriel, Ian, Tone, and Theo all remained broadly bullish into the halving, though several expected a pullback after the event.
Halving Price Predictions
Gabriel predicted $1,075 for the July halving, Ian said around $900 after a higher move and pullback, Tone chose $1,076 in Price Is Right fashion, and Theo jumped to 3,000. Tone kept his miner-rationing thesis, expecting some coins held back before the halving to be sold after it.
Canada Coin
The panel discussed Canada’s central bank denying plans for a national cryptocurrency after a test with R3. Ian raised the bank-run risk of faster digital exits, while Tone argued the real question was who controls private keys and whether a government coin is anything more than existing digital fiat.
Brexit, Questions, And Smart Contract Audits
In the Q&A segment, the panel considered Brexit’s possible effect on Bitcoin, generally treating political uncertainty as indirectly bullish. They also discussed the cost and difficulty of auditing smart contracts, noting that reliable review would require both programming and legal-style analysis.
Dow. Hacked.— Thomas Hunt
The Dow is obviously completely screwed.— Tone Vays
there is absolutely no reason for a for it to be decentralized at the moment.— Tone Vays
It's a slippery slope.— Theo Goodman
I don't believe so. We're heading for the Havning.— Gabriel Divay
There will be other Dow's.— Thomas Hunt
Story of the Week
The DAO Learns Immutability In Public
The dominant story was the DAO hack because it forced Ethereum to decide what its slogans meant under stress. The DAO had raised enormous funds, funded no projects, and then lost a large share of its value through code that executed as written. The panel treated the proposed hard fork as the central moral and technical question: protect investors and show governance capacity, or preserve immutability and accept the loss. Bitcoin’s rally formed the backdrop, but the episode belonged to Ethereum’s first major constitutional crisis.
The Dow is obviously completely screwed.— Tone Vays