Not only that, They have to refund the ETH to everyone. (minus the high gas fees that were paid)

It is perhaps due to the high gas fees with the ETH price volatility and showing the total amount funded publicly which costed them since they were unable to afford the additional auction costs.

Perhaps better alternative blockchains that are designed to scale with very low transaction fees and support smart contracts with EVM compatibility, would have been better for this use case.

Clearly Ethereum has let down the web3 crowd once again on this occasion. What a shame.

They don’t have to return the ETH, they agreed to return the ETH. 9 of 13 of the leaders of the (centralized) org have to agree to be able to move funds back to the people, there’s nothing technically forcing them to do so.

Beside maybe a legal obligation that people would have to take them to court over to sort out, no better than a gofundme/kickstarter.

Never mentioned anything about 'the banks' but regardless, they are still around because everyone needs to eat and you can still pay for your groceries with your card linked to your bank account which payments provide very low transaction costs and it is still fast.

Unlike Ethereum which it has gotten worse to use over time to the point that it is useless to pay for your groceries. Perhaps there are other blockchains that are better for both for setting up DAOs and paying for your food.

Oh dear.