TheDAO Security Fund is a long-term endowment that reactivates over 75,000 ETH in unclaimed assets from the original 2016 DAO hack recovery to fund Ethereum security infrastructure. Announced on January 29, 2026, the initiative stakes the majority of these funds — approximately 69,420 ETH from the ExtraBalance contract — to generate an estimated $8M per year in staking yield, which is then distributed through community-driven funding rounds to security researchers, tooling developers, and rapid-response teams.
The fund is governed by a board of seven curators drawn from across the Ethereum ecosystem: Vitalik Buterin (Ethereum Foundation), Taylor Monahan (MetaMask), Jordi Baylina (ZisK), pcaversaccio (SEAL 911), Alex Van de Sande (ENS), Griff Green (Giveth), and Pol Lanski (DappNode). An additional 4,600 ETH held in the curator multisig wallet is available for immediate grant deployment, while outstanding claims from original DAO token holders will be honored indefinitely.
The initiative represents a full-circle moment for Ethereum — the 2016 DAO exploit that triggered the Ethereum/Ethereum Classic hard fork and catalyzed the blockchain security industry is now directly funding the ecosystem's security future.
How It Works
TheDAO Security Fund operates as an endowment model: principal is preserved through staking, and yield funds ongoing security grants through multiple allocation mechanisms.
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Staking for yield: Approximately 69,420 ETH from the ExtraBalance contract is staked across Ethereum validators, generating projected annual returns of ~$8M at current staking rates (3.5–4% APR). This creates a sustainable, long-term funding source without depleting the principal.
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Curator governance: Seven curators oversee fund strategy and allocation. Curators include Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, MetaMask security researcher Taylor Monahan, ENS co-founder Alex Van de Sande, Giveth co-founder Griff Green, and security experts from SEAL 911, ZisK, and DappNode. The curator structure replaces the original informal six-volunteer arrangement that previously managed keys to $300M+ in assets.
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Community-driven funding rounds: Staking yield is distributed through decentralized mechanisms including quadratic funding, retroactive public goods funding, and ranked-choice voting for proposals. Independent operators manage individual grant rounds, ensuring community ownership of allocation decisions.
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Security focus areas: Funded initiatives target Ethereum security broadly — including smart contract audits, security tooling development, vulnerability research, incident response infrastructure, and rapid-response coordination (such as SEAL 911's war-room operations).
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Perpetual claims: The fund honors original DAO token holder claims indefinitely. Edge-case funds — approximately 3% of the original DAO — stemming from overpayments and token burns that didn't cleanly map back to holders after the hard fork remain claimable.
Background
In June 2016, an attacker exploited a reentrancy vulnerability in The DAO's smart contracts to drain approximately $60M in ETH — roughly a third of the fund. The Ethereum community executed a controversial hard fork to recover the stolen funds, creating Ethereum Classic in the process.
After the fork, recovered funds were made claimable by original token holders through the curator multisig. However, approximately 75,000 ETH from edge cases — overpayments, token burns, and the ExtraBalance contract — sat unclaimed for nearly a decade. During that time, these assets appreciated significantly in value while six volunteer curators informally managed the keys.
In early 2026, led by Griff Green (who coordinated the original DAO rescue effort), the curators formalized a plan to professionalize governance, modernize key management, and deploy these dormant assets toward Ethereum security — the area most directly shaped by the original DAO crisis.
Curators
- Vitalik Buterin — Ethereum Foundation co-founder
- Taylor Monahan — MetaMask security researcher
- Jordi Baylina — ZisK (zero-knowledge proof systems)
- pcaversaccio — SEAL 911 (emergency security response)
- Alex Van de Sande — ENS (Ethereum Name Service) co-founder
- Griff Green — Giveth co-founder, original DAO rescue coordinator
- Pol Lanski — DappNode (decentralized infrastructure)