NEW YORK–Approximately $55-million worth of digital currency “ethereum” has allegedly been stolen from an experimental investment fund, according to a number of news reports.
The Wall Street Journal reported that founders of the $150-million fund, known as the Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO), have shut it down in the wake of the June 17 hack and are planning for its unwinding. The attackers reportedly stole about 3.6 million ethereum coins, valued at about $55 million, and moved it to another account.
A co-founder of ethereum, Vitalik Buterin, acknowledged in a blog post that “an attack has been found and exploited in the DAO."
The Wall Street Journal reported the attackers appeared to have exploited a loophole that essentially allowed a DAO stakeholder to create an identical fund and move money into it. But the code also imposes a waiting period that means the new fund can't move any money for 27 days, the Wall Street Journal said. The DAO's founders are planning to "fork" the code and effectively void the hacker's transactions, according to Buterin's blog. "DAO token holders and ethereum users should sit tight and remain calm," he said in the blog post. "Exchanges should feel safe in resuming trading."
The attack didn't target the ethereum network, but only the DAO fund, according to The Wall Street Journal.