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June 14, 2022 –Solving Cryptocurrency’s Biggest Whodunnit

Laura Shin was among the first financial journalists to cover crypto full-time and was best known as the host of Unchained, a rare fact-based weekly podcast on the subject.

But it was on February 2, 2022 that her biggest story appeared in the print version of Forbes. She figured out who she alleges hacked The DAO in 2016.

The DAO was the first large-scale attempt to decentralize venture capital. Run automatically and by consensus, it pooled its members' crypto holdings with the intent to fund exciting new projects on the Ethereum chain —of which there were many. It became the largest crowdfunding exercise in history.

Then somebody stole all the money. Whoever used coding tricks to abscond with tens of millions of investors' dollars, almost destroying Ethereum in the process, never got caught by authorities and evaded suspicion among the crypto community in which he continued to participate.

But Laura figured it out, just in time to include the revelation in her new book, "The Cryptopians: Idealism, Greed, Lies, and the Making of the First Big Cryptocurrency Craze" (2022: BBS PublicAffairs, a Hachette imprint).

Join the NYFWA for an IN-PERSON gathering at the Tailor Public House, where Laura will discuss the backstory of her reporting and writing process in conversation with NYFWA board member William Freedman. Book signing will be available at the event. This is a “do not miss” for financial journalists interested in crypto —or beat reporters who aspire to one day turn their news into a novel.

Attendees at this event will also have the opportunity to network with peers over drinks and appetizers, something we have all, no doubt, missed doing for the past two years.

When: June 14 @ 6 p.m.

Where: The Tailor Public House, 505 8th Ave. (between 35th/36th) in the Upstairs Back Room

RSVPs are MANDATORY: contact@nyfwa.org