Maybe it is just all PR
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)
The child DAO releases coins same day as btc halvening too I think... def timed accordingly. It also created reverse head and shoulders on the daily... so all short/medium bear targets were met and bullish targets remain intact. This would make sense.