The craziest conspiracy theory is the whales did this on purpose not just to profit by shorting and repurchasing cheaper, but also to create a massive amount of promotion for The DAO.

The any promotion is good promotion school of marketing.

$50 ETH here we come? (note it could also crash to $1 so please don't think I am offering any advice)

Normally it is best to buy when there is "blood in the streets". Ethereum isn't likely dead. So far, CC is a delusion of decentralization any way.