Ethereum Brings Back “The DAO”
For a lot of Ethereum people, “The DAO” is not just history—it’s the scar tissue that shaped everything that came after. In 2016, the original DAO hack kicked off an existential crisis for Ethereum, triggered a hard fork, and ultimately led to the split that created Ethereum Classic.
Now, nearly a decade later, a group of Ethereum early contributors says they’re reviving that same chapter—this time as a security endowment.
According to Unchained and further details published by the project itself, 75,000+ ETH tied to “edge-case” DAO-era contracts will be activated to create TheDAO Security Fund, a roughly $220 million initiative designed to bankroll security work across Ethereum mainnet and its broader ecosystem.
The headline is poetic in a very Ethereum way: the network’s most infamous failure is being converted into long-term funding to help prevent the next one.
Where the money comes from
When the DAO exploit rocked Ethereum in 2016, the community forked to return funds to DAO participants. But not every ETH-related edge case was neatly resolved, and some assets remained unclaimed in contracts and wallets overseen by a curator group formed to manage those leftovers and handle oddball recovery issues.
The project’s official write-up says TheDAO Security Fund will steward ETH from two main sources:
- About 70,500 ETH from the ExtraBalance contract (with some ETH left behind so claims can continue), and
- Roughly 4,600 ETH in TheDAO Curator Multisig (described as having no clear claimants).
In other words, the fund isn’t touching the main “withdraw” contract that DAO token holders can still redeem against. It’s focused on the edge-case buckets.
How it will work: staking + grants, not a one-off spend
The fund structure is basically two engines:
- An upfront grants pool
Unchained reports that leftover assets in the curator multut $13.5 million—will be used for security grants distributed through DAO-style isig—worth abomechanisms. - A staking-powered endowment
Most of the ETH—69,420 ETH (yes, that number is deliberate)—will be staked to generate ongoing yield, with rewards used to finance security initiatives over time.
Decrypt, summarizing comments from Giveth co-founder Griff Green, frames the plan as turning “unclaimed Ethereum” into a long-term security endowment that funds audits, tooling, and incident response rather than relying on one-time donations or ad-hoc sponsorships.
Who’s involved: “curators” and ecosystem names
TheDAO Security Fund site lists a set of “curators,” including Vitalik Buterin (Ethereum Foundation), Taylor Monahan (MetaMask), Alex Van de Sande (ENS), and Griff Green (Giveth), alongside other ecosystem contributors.
Unchained’s reporting adds context on Green’s role: he worked on the original DAO era (including Slock.it) and later became part of the “White Hat Group” that helped rescue funds during the 2016 crisis.
So this isn’t a random “DAO reboot” announcement—it’s coming from people who were literally in the room (or at least in the multisig) the first time around.
What gets funded
The project’s own post and Unchained’s reporting describe a broad security scope: Ethereum mainnet, Layer 2s, smart contract security, incident response, research, user protection, infrastructure, and operational security.
Importantly, Unchained notes the fund is not meant to bankroll “EVM-compatible alt-L1s,” which is a subtle but meaningful boundary line: this is positioned as Ethereum ecosystem security, not general EVM security everywhere.
How grants are decided
If you’re expecting a traditional foundation committee, this isn’t that.
Unchained says grants will be distributed mostly through DAO processes—specifically mentioning quadratic funding, retroactive public goods funding, and ranked-choice RFP voting, among other governance mechanics.
The project’s post echoes that framing: broad ecosystem participation, multiple funding mechanisms, and independent operators running rounds. It also says the Ethereum Foundation’s Grants Management team will provide eligibility requirements for each round, with Giveth supporting operators.
That structure is a quiet callback to the original DAO’s ambition: governance as a mechanism, not just a label.
Why now?
TheDAO Security Fund’s own writing explicitly ties itself to the Ethereum Foundation’s “Trillion Dollar Security”effort—an ecosystem-wide initiative aimed at upgrading Ethereum security as it becomes infrastructure that might need to protect trillions in value.
Ethereum.org’s Trillion Dollar Security report lays out why this matters: it argues that for global adoption, Ethereum needs users comfortable holding meaningful value onchain, and institutions comfortable storing very large sums in contracts and applications—requirements that raise the bar on UX safety, contract security, infrastructure resilience, incident response, and governance.
So the timing checks out. Ethereum’s attack surface isn’t what it was in 2016. It now spans L2 stacks, bridges, wallet UX, MEV realities, and a much larger user base. A dedicated security endowment is a logical response.
Key details at a glance
| Item | What’s been reported/published |
| Fund size | 75,000+ ETH, about $220M |
| Sources of funds | ExtraBalance (~70,500 ETH) + curator multisig (~4,600 ETH) |
| Staked amount | ~69,420 ETH staked for endowment yield |
| Grants pool | ~$13.5M for security grants via DAO-style mechanisms |
| Governance tools | quadratic funding, retroactive funding, ranked-choice RFPs |
| Curators include | Vitalik Buterin, Taylor Monahan, Alex Van de Sande, Griff Green |
What to watch next
Two things will determine whether this becomes a meaningful new pillar of Ethereum security—or just a flashy headline:
- Execution and transparency: how clearly grant rounds, criteria, and outcomes are documented (especially with DAO-style governance complexity).
- Security impact per dollar: whether the endowment meaningfully reduces risk—funding audits, tooling, incident response, and user protection where it matters most.
Conclusion
Either way, the symbolism is hard to miss: Ethereum’s most iconic early failure is being repurposed into a long-term defense budget. In crypto, that’s about as close as you get to turning a cautionary tale into infrastructure.