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shares(sh)

Token
0x684282178b1d...195bef9a33b5
DAO ForkContract #21KSource VerifiedEdit this contract
Deployed July 20, 2016 (9 years ago)Block 1,918,776

An early on-chain corporation contract by cryptonomica.net, representing company shares as ERC-20 tokens with embedded voting — deployed hours before the DAO ha

DAO Fork EraVerified Source

Historical Significance

The Corporation contract represents an early attempt to digitize traditional corporate share structures on Ethereum — a precursor to what would later become Security Token Offerings (STOs) and on-chain equity instruments. Deployed by cryptonomica.net, a legal technology project focused on blockchain-based cryptographic services, it reflects the 2016 belief that Ethereum could replace traditional corporate registries. Its timing — hours before the DAO hard fork — makes it a notable artifact of one of Ethereum's most consequential days.

Context

July 20, 2016 was the day of the Ethereum hard fork at block 1,920,000, which reversed The DAO hack and recovered approximately 3.6 million ETH. The fork was one of the most divisive events in Ethereum's history and led to the creation of Ethereum Classic. The Cryptonomica Corporation contract was deployed into this environment 5 hours before the fork, reflecting that ordinary development continued even as the Ethereum community was split over the most controversial governance decision in its history.

Token Information
Token Name
shares
Symbol
sh
Decimals
0
Key Facts
Deployment Block
1,918,776
Deployment Date
Jul 20, 2016, 12:43 PM
Code Size
4.7 KB
Gas at Deploy
1,641,200
Transactions by Year
201613
20172
20185

Description

Corporation is a smart contract implementing a company share registry on Ethereum, developed by cryptonomica.net and deployed at block 1,918,776 on July 20, 2016. The deployer is address 0x3b24d5ce666bf060900989e9bd4e511b7a201ada.

The contract represents corporate shares as ERC-20-compatible tokens with additional governance features including voting. Shareholders can transfer shares, approve delegates to spend shares on their behalf, and participate in on-chain voting. The source code credits the Ethereum token standard (EIP-20) and the official Ethereum DAO voting example as its primary sources.

The contract is one of the earlier attempts to encode traditional corporate structure — share ownership, transfer, and voting — directly in a smart contract on Ethereum mainnet. It was deployed using Mist wallet or browser-solidity, the developer tools available in 2016.

Notably, this contract was deployed just 1,224 blocks (approximately 5 hours) before block 1,920,000 — the Ethereum hard fork that reversed The DAO hack. The two events are not known to be connected, but both reflect the same period of intense activity around governance and on-chain organizational structures.

Source Verified

Etherscan verified
Heuristic Analysis

The following characteristics were detected through bytecode analysis and may not be accurate.

Detected Type: Token
Has ERC-20-like patterns

Bytecode Overview

Opcodes4,852
Unique Opcodes220
Jump Instructions233
Storage Operations133

External Links