Unchained — "The DAO’s Unclaimed ETH Becomes a $250M Ethereum Security Fund"

Host: Laura Shin
Guest: Griff Green (Co-founder, Giveth & DAO Security Fund)
Date: January 29, 2026

Episode Overview

This episode of Unchained features an exclusive announcement by Griff Green—pioneering Ethereum community member and builder—about the launch of the DAO Security Fund. The fund is powered by approximately $250 million in ETH, originating from unclaimed remnants of the 2016 DAO hack. Laura and Griff delve into the journey from the DAO’s existential crisis to the creation of a permanent security endowment for Ethereum, offering deep insights into crypto security, DAOs, community governance, and reflections on past and future challenges.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The $250 Million DAO Security Fund Launch

• The Source of Funds

  • The DAO’s 2016 hack led to a hard fork, returning most ETH to DAO token holders.
  • However, edge cases and unclaimed funds—initially ~3% of the total (~$6M in 2016)—have grown in value to around $200–250M due to ETH price appreciation.
  • These funds are mainly composed of:
    • Unclaimed “extra balance” ETH (paid during the DAO’s creation due to tiered token pricing)
    • Funds lost via misdirected transfers, “child DAOs,” and stray contract deposits

• Fund Structure & Purpose

  • Nearly all funds will be staked, generating 6–8 million USD annually for security grants.
  • The intent: “to help Ethereum come to the place where people feel that it’s safer to store assets on Ethereum than in a bank.” (Griff Green, 00:00)

• Long-term Claims Support

  • Unclaimed funds remain claimable indefinitely. Claims have steadily slowed; most remaining are likely inaccessible (“dead addresses”).
  • Promotion of the fund is hoped to nudge any stragglers to claim their share.

2. Personal Reflections: The DAO, White Hat Rescue, and Full Circle Moments

• Griff recounts the frenetic aftermath of the DAO hack, including his months as an unpaid “white hat,” rescuing and returning stuck funds under immense pressure.
• “It was a very exciting, exciting time. And while it wasn’t easy and a lot of people were mad at me... I’m always really grateful for the people that challenge us to make it better...” (Griff Green, 05:40)
• Griff outlines the convolutions of DAO token/ETH/ETC recovery, lessons learned, and the feeling of redemption turning crisis into a community security asset.

3. Technical and Financial Mechanics

• Fund Buckets Explained (11:07–15:30)
  • Main Withdrawal Contract: Collateralizes DAO tokens—100 tokens always redeemable for 1 ETH.
  • Extra Balance Contract: Holds surplus ETH from token sale; ~70,000 ETH remain unclaimed.
  • Child DAOs, Stray Transfers: Miscellaneous cases from users mistakenly sending assets to contract addresses.
• Future Use
  • The main withdrawal contract remains untouched.
  • DAO tokens held back for possible future claimant.
  • The bulk of staking revenue will fund security initiatives.

4. DAO Security Fund: Grantmaking Philosophy & Structure

• DAO-Native Distribution

  • Grants decided through DAO-based mechanisms: retro funding, quadratic funding, conviction voting, ranked choice voting, etc.
  • Priority on bottom-up, collective community input — “...funding security initiatives from the bottom up using the best tools that the dao ecosystem has to offer is kind of the name of the game.” (20:56)

• Eligibility and Collaboration

  • Primary focus: Ethereum and L2 ecosystem (not alt-EVMs like BNB).
  • Strong coordination with Ethereum Foundation (EF)—EF determines eligibility criteria, DAO Security Fund curates grant rounds, independent operators manage voting/distributions.

5. Initiative Focus: Security Challenges in Ethereum & Web3

• Current Pain Points

  • Wallet UX and safety (large-scale phishing / “wallet draining” attacks)
  • Hot wallets: “Hot wallets are a bug...you’re fueling a huge industry of scammers.” (Griff Green, 29:47)
  • Lack of systemic user protection tools

• Priorities for Funding

  • Tools for hack prevention and community support (e.g., Seal911, Red Guild, Open Zeppelin).
  • New research and solutions for account abstraction, wallet security, and user education.
  • Encouraging an ecosystem “shelling point” to drive security innovation.

6. Revitalizing DAOs: From Corporate Governance to Civil Infrastructure

• Griff laments that DAOs today mostly solve “corporate governance” for “delegates” in small groups; he envisions much broader, civil-society-replacing DAOs.
• Supports development of wide-participation mechanisms like quadratic funding and liquid democracy.

"I want to see us derive actual bottom-up decision making tools that can be better than governments..." (Griff Green, 21:36)

7. Fund Governance and Origin Story

• New Multisig & Curator Board

  • Board blends original DAO/Ethereum figures (Vitalik Buterin, Vlad Zamfir, Alex van de Sande), DAO rescuers, builder-leaders, and newer security experts (Taylor Monahan, Jordi Baylina, Lansky Polanski, MPC from Seal911).
  • The process includes oversight, claim validation, round curation, and security infrastructure stewardship.

• How the Idea Emerged

  • Inception at Burning Man, after PC (Seal911) flagged the unused funds as a potential security funding source.
  • Security of the old contracts was itself a motivator—old Solidity code, ancient multisigs, stone-age infrastructure.

8. Security Warnings & Reflections

• For Users:
  “Buy a hardware wallet. Don’t store your keys on your computer, your day-to-day computer... it’s a one-time insurance policy.” (Griff Green, 54:25)
• For Developers:
  “Separate your crypto work from...your SSH keys and all the...DevOps kind of stuff that you have on your computer. Operational security is probably the most important thing.” (54:25)
• General Warning:
  The industry’s current state: safer on custodians than as self-custodians—something Griff sees as a call to action for better UX and tools, not an endpoint.

9. Griff’s Crypto Journey & Philosophy

• Reflects on his reputation as a greater asset than money.
• “Rescuing money—the hardest part is giving it back...Sometimes doing the right thing is actually the hardest thing to do, you know, but it is the best thing to do and it’s the most rewarding...” (Griff Green, 63:07)
• Remains “blessed” to be involved in shaping Ethereum’s ethics and safety, with pride in always prioritizing integrity—even when imperfect.

10. How to Get Involved

• Follow @DAOSecurityFund on Twitter.
• Visit thedaofund.org (hypothetical) to join a mailing list and submit project pitches.
• Opportunities to apply for round operator roles and propose security projects will be announced soon.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On full-circle symbolism:
  “It’s a definitely a full circle moment and I’m very grateful for that time... now these remaining funds in the DAO are being turned into this Ethereum security fund...”
  — Griff Green (05:40)

• On DAO’s original impact:
  “I think The DAO is like the only hack where everyone got their money back and everyone made money on top of it, which is kind of crazy to me...”
  — Griff Green (06:31)

• On the future of security funding:
  “Never once has there been a security focused public goods like funding round ever in 10 years of Ethereum’s existence...so it’s time...”
  — Griff Green (51:40)

• On the security landscape:
  “Hot wallets are a bug...the main thing fueling [the cybercrime scam industry] is keys in your browser... It’s the largest cybercrime industry. So it’s something we really have to fix.”
  — Griff Green (29:47)

• On shifting DAO culture:
  “I want to see 200, 500 people be decision makers and collectively come to a consensus in a really easy, efficient way. And those are the kind of tools we want to support.”
  — Griff Green (34:32)

• On personal motivations:
  “Reputation is worth way more than money. ...money is so easy to quantify...reputation is more qualitative and...I think most of the good things in life are qualitative and harder to measure.”
  — Griff Green (63:07)

• On user advice:
  “Buy a hardware wallet. Don’t store your keys on your computer, your day to day computer like just get them off.”
  — Griff Green (54:25)

Timestamps for Important Segments

• [03:04] — Announcement of the DAO Security Fund
• [11:07] — Technical breakdown of unclaimed funds & “buckets”
• [20:56] — Philosophy behind DAO’s grantmaking and bottom-up security
• [24:55] — Collaboration with Ethereum Foundation and funding priorities
• [29:47] — The hot wallet problem & crypto crime underpinnings
• [34:32] — DAOs today vs. original vision
• [38:15] — The origin story: How the fund proposal emerged
• [45:16] — Structure & background of multisig curators
• [51:40] — Vitalik’s reaction and security priorities
• [54:25] — The “billboard” security advice for users and developers
• [63:07] — Griff’s reflections on reputation & lessons from white hat rescues
• [74:58] — Instructions for security project applications
• [77:46] — Closing encouragements and Laura’s book, The Cryptopians

Closing Thoughts

The DAO Security Fund stands as a powerful symbolic and practical bookend: a redemption arc from Ethereum’s first existential crisis to a landmark security endowment. In Griff’s words:
“I really want to see the DAO Security Fund help Ethereum come to the place where people feel that it’s safer to store assets on Ethereum than in a bank.” (00:00; 81:52)

For anyone interested in DAOs, blockchain security, or the Ethereum story, this episode offers history, hard-won lessons, practical guidance, and an invitation to co-create the next era of safe, democratic Web3 infrastructure.

Further Resources:

• theDAOfund.org (hypothetical)
• Twitter: @DAOSecurityFund
• Book: The Cryptopians by Laura Shin
• Unchained archives: December “Seal911 Masterclass” episode