Blockchains acquires the company behind ‘The DAO’ project

U.S-based blockchain incubator and investment company Blockchains has announced the acquisition of slock.it, a German blockchain development company.

Founded in 2015, slock.it is the company behind the infamous Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO). The DAO was one of the most notable Ethereum projects of its time and had raked in $150 million worth of ether in a crowd sale. However, hackers exploited a coding loophole and drained over $60 million in ether in June 2016.

One of the key projects the German startup is currently working on is Incubed, which connects internet of things (IoT) devices to the Ethereum blockchain.

Blockchains said that the acquisition will strengthen its technical capabilities and accelerate the development of its digital asset custody and digital identity solutions, the governance model for its planned distributed collaborative entity, and other projects.

“This is an exciting acquisition for Blockchains,” said president David Berns. “slock.it’s team of nearly three dozen experienced developers and professionals will allow Blockchains to significantly fast-track its product roadmap and enhance its collaboration efforts.”

Blockchains further said that it will support the development and expansion of slock.it’s existing products, including Incubed and its IoT-layer solution that addresses issues relating to security and interoperability in many existing IoT systems.

As part of the acquisition, slock.it’s founders Christoph and Simon Jentzsch will join Blockchains as vice president of technology and director of blockchain development, respectively. The companies will continue to operate out of their respective offices in the U.S. and Germany and plan to substantially expand their development teams within the next year.

“This is a natural marriage,” said Blockchains CEO and founder Jeffrey Berns. “With Blockchains’ partnerships and slock.it’s technical prowess, this union allows us to fulfill the promises of blockchain technology and foster an ecosystem that applies blockchain solutions to better our everyday lives.”

The companies are currently working to release a series of open-source tools for the Ethereum developer community over the next several months.