The price of Ether, a bitcoin rival, is soaring because of a radical, $150 million experiment
http://qz.com/688194/the-price-of-ether-a-bitcoin-rival-is-soaring-because-of-a-radical-150-million-experiment/Thousands of people have pumped $150 million into what might be the biggest crowdfunded project in history, something called the Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO). Compare this to the $20 million raised by the project with the most funds on Kickstarter.
The DAO’s big promise is that it’s an entirely new way to manage and allocate capital. More specifically, it’s capital allocation without a fund manager.
That crowd consists of about 11,000 anonymous stakeholders who can vote directly on any major decision to spend the organization’s funds. Companies or individuals who want to tap the funds must submit a proposal. These proposals are published online, and stakeholders ultimately vote on whether to adopt them, allocating a slice of the $150 million, or not. Stakeholders then stand to gain from the profits generated by these proposals, whether in the form of dividends or an increase in value of their tokens.
The DAO is funded entirely with Ether, the cryptocurrency that’s rivalling bitcoin and exploding in value. That is to say, users need to convert dollars or bitcoins or other currencies to Ether, which they then use to invest in the DAO.
Ether was trading at about $0.90 in December, but is now changing hands at nearly $15.
DAO has proved so popular among holders of Ether, that the DAO now accounts for almost 14% of the value of all Ether in circulation.
One single DAO...Token-holders can’t sell out now, because the DAO smart contract says tokens are locked up during this subscription period. But the lock-up period ends in seven days. That’s when we’ll see a drop in Ether’s stratospheric price rise.
A drop in the Ether price would leave a dent in the value of the DAO’s funds. But for true believers in the decentralized ways of the DAO, it’s a small price to pay for a future without middle-men. “The amounts raised now are making people think this is no longer a toy,” says Slockit’s Tual. “This is going to make a very big difference. It’s paving the way for a billion-dollar project.”
