That's a more important question and we are still waiting to see exactly how it will be done.  I think part of the problem is it has never been done on this sort of level before - normally it would just be up to a handful of people to analyse the contract and make a decision.  Due to the scale with the DAO and it being a new process I think this will definitely require some experimentation and iteration.  I think the only way to be sure if it will work and how it will work is to actually start the process.

Who told you that?  The DAO has the same legal recourse and protection as any international company.  Why would you assume differently?  Even if Samsung bought out Slock.it they would still have to fulfil the terms of the contract or face legal sanction.

If you need someone to help you look after them I'm happy to take care of 50% of those for you.

Not really a problem.  There would still be contracts just as with any business deal and if the company broke the contract the DAO or someone elected by the DAO could sue them.  Same way any company or corporation takes another entity to court.

Yes.  I just permanently keep my Factom lent out.  That way it is at least slowly growing as opposed to doing nothing.

I now believe that this is the finest piece of video in Bitcoin history.  We must create a religion around it!

I would recommend listening to the latest episode of the Bitcoin Podcast (here: http://thebitcoinpodcast.com/episode-57/ , also available on Itunes). 

I was also very skeptical about the DAO but after reading more about it and hearing Stephen Tual (creator of Slock.it) talk about it on the podcast I really began to understand it better.  One way of thinking about the DAO (assuming I'm not misunderstanding) is a bit like a Venture Capital firm operating on the Ethereum blockchain. 

The holders of the DAO tokens get to vote on the important decisions (like the board of a VC company) and decide which companies to invest in.  Those companies then use the investment to create their business and the DAO (comprising of the DAO token holders) share in the profits from those companies, raising further capital which can then be reused to invest in other new companies. 

Although there is no guarantee of success it is interesting to imagine what would happen if one of the companies that the DAO invested in became the next Facebook, Google or Microsoft. 

It is also quite feasible that Vitalik and his cohorts will go with a private for profit foundation for the next iteration of Ethereum, DAO would be the perfect way to do it and note that Vitalik and the rest of the Ether team are already part of the DAO too.

Whatever happens I think this certainly has the potential to be massive considering it has almost equalled the amount of money (in dollars) that Ethereum raised, in a matter of a few days and there are still 23 days to go.  As the deadline approaches the hype will become unstoppable and more and more money will pour in due to people's FOMO.

Yes it's a joke.  It's a newsroom error where they showed some guy dressed as a clown and proclaimed it was Craig Wright - I thought everyone would appreciate the laugh.  I certainly enjoyed it!  Even my brother who doesn't give a stuff about bitcoin thought it was funny.

Nearly 15 million dollars (1.54m in ETHER) for DAO now and 24 days to go. 

Ethereum raised 18.5 million total and by the time they exchanged their bitcoins it was a lot less (in dollars). 

Whatever you think of the long term or technical aspects of DAO it's inevitably going to be huge and the hype is only going to keep increasing as the deadline for the sale approaches.  FOMO is gong to create a massive amount of hysteria about this particularly once the mainstream media cotton on to it. 

I think the final figure could easily be double what it is now.  That can only be good both for those investing in the DAO and the value of ether (due to the significant number being removed from circulation).

This was the one big crowd sale that I lost money on.

Best laugh I've had in ages guys!  It's so perfect I think the spirit of Hal Finney or the real Satoshi (if conspiracy theories are true) must have had a hand in it.

Apologies if this has been posted before but if you want REAL proof this youtube video proves it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2euMNmsb_s

Don't believe it?  Watch it and you'll understand.

https://daohub.org

12.85 million dollars/1.31 million ether right now.

I can confirm that the team member know as Yuri Gagarin is actually Satoshi Nakamoto.  I will not be providing proof.

To make those with weak balls panic.

I suspect the current pump will last until the end of the DAO sale then there's a high probability it will start to fall again until the next Ether innovation (pyramid scheme) when it will undoubtably pump again.

This would be even more relevant to the UK.  There is a big problem with the medical records system and there was a scandal a few years ago with a new NHS computer system having to be scrapped after spending several hundred million pounds when it failed to meet expectations. 

The NHS is still crying out for a modernised (single) system which is both secure and standardised - at the moment each hospital trust has it's own completely different system with incompatibilities between hospitals, primary care and different regions being a daily hurdle.

With a centralised NHS and a government that is highly enthusiastic about the blockchain Factom would be a perfect fit here.  I suspect it is only a matter of time before some blockchain company (even if it isn't Factom) wins that contract and it would dwarf (in monetary and adoption size) any previous blockchain achievements.

This kind of stuff is part of the reason I'm so enthusiastic about Factom.  They seem to be talking directly to the big players and doing the big deals already, whereas other blockchain companies/cryptocurrencies are just making great pronouncements about the future - including Ethereum and especially those involved with Bitcoin development who seem to be big on making speeches but seem to bring very little to actual fruition. 

I would not be surprised if in a year's time Factom is more valuable than Ether.

They have already been working with IBM in a roundabout way (see earlier news post) so it would make sense.  Obviously we would only here about it once everything was finalised and then it would be too late to profit!

SYScoin 2.0 officially live according to Twitter.

https://twitter.com/syscoin/status/726807145937797120

From Twitter: