In 2016, #Ethereum faced a major issue known as the DAO attack and network split.

DAO was a project built on Ethereum, acting as a decentralized autonomous organization that funded projects based on smart contracts. In June 2016, attackers exploited a vulnerability in the DAO smart contract code, siphoning off a significant amount of funds, approximately 3.6 million ETH at the time, which was a substantial sum.

To prevent further damage and restore trust within the community, Ethereum made the decision to conduct a hard fork known as the "DAO fork" or "Ethereum hard fork." This was akin to returning the stolen funds and creating a new version of the Ethereum blockchain where the stolen funds were frozen and returned to their rightful owners.

However, this resulted in a split within the community. Some adhered to the original Ethereum, now called Ethereum Classic (ETC), arguing that the code should remain "immutable," even if it meant retaining the stolen funds.

This incident underscored the challenges of smart contract security research and sparked discussions on the importance of intervening in blockchain code to rectify errors and address issues.$ETH