The people behind the failed bid to buy the rare original constitution faced an avalanche of refunds – up to $40 million for 17,000 donors. The ConstitutionDAO team uses a “decentralized” approach – largely unregulated and cryptocurrencies – to amass wealth.
But these high fees for crypto transactions cost a lot of money in the recovery process. The group said issuing refunds was a top priority. He later announced on his website that the project was complete, despite initially promising to continue.
“We know that everyone is curious about the next steps for ConstitutionDAO – and we are examining some options in-depth,” he said. “While we wanted to do this, we have decided that we, as a core team, cannot support the ongoing construction and maintenance of the project given the technical and administrative requirements for proper implementation.”
Now some investors say they have to pay fees of up to half of their refund. The Ethereum network records its transactions on the blockchain, the same underlying technological idea that powers other cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin.
And like Bitcoin mining, it takes computing power to function. “Gas” is a fee paid to those who operate computer systems to facilitate transactions. And it changes the price based on supply and demand.
This means it can sometimes be much more expensive to perform all types of transactions, depending on how busy the Ethereum network is
High gas costs mean that transaction costs can heavily impact “small” donations. One Discord user said he had to pay $168 in gas to get $400 back. Others complain that the fees are higher than their relatively small refund amount.
“Nearly a third of the people who have contributed are new to [Ethereum], and this is their first experience. Not only that, they need to know the pain of paying $200+ gas for nothing,” they said.