Quick Breakdown
- Unclaimed Ether from the 2016 DAO hack is now worth about $200 million.
- The funds will be staked, with proceeds used to support Ethereum security.
- DAO-based voting models will determine how security funding is distributed.
Unclaimed Ethereum tokens linked to the infamous 2016 DAO hack will be repurposed to strengthen the network’s security, according to Ethereum advocate Griff Green.
Speaking on Thursday during an interview with Unchained podcast host Laura Shin, Green said a significant amount of Ether recovered after the hack has remained untouched for years. Rather than letting the funds sit idle, plans are underway to channel them into a new DAO-led security fund designed to support Ethereum’s long-term resilience.
The DAO (Decentralized Autonomous Organization) was exploited in June 2016, allowing an attacker to drain more than $50 million worth of Ether at the time. The incident ultimately triggered a controversial hard fork, splitting the blockchain into Ethereum and Ethereum Classic.
How $200 million in idle ETH will be used
Green explained that while the hard fork returned most of the stolen Ether to tokenholders, the claims process was complex, leaving behind unresolved cases. Roughly $6 million was placed under a multisignature wallet managed by Green and others to handle these edge cases.
Although more than 80% of the funds were eventually claimed, the remaining balance, now valued at around $200 million, has remained untouched. Green said the plan is to stake the Ether and use the generated revenue to fund Ethereum-focused security initiatives.
“We’re going to stake them and use the revenue to actually support Ethereum security,”
he said, adding that the fund’s mission is to make Ethereum safer than traditional financial institutions.
DAO-style governance to drive security funding
According to Green, the new security fund will stay true to The DAO’s original vision by relying on decentralized governance models. Funding decisions will be made using mechanisms such as quadratic funding, conviction voting, ranked-choice voting, and retroactive public goods funding.
He also noted that the 2016 hack played a pivotal role in shaping Ethereum’s security culture. Before the incident, smart contract audits were rare. Today, they are considered essential across the ecosystem.
Meanwhile, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin renewed his call for better-designed DAOs, arguing that the crypto industry needs to move beyond simple token-holder voting systems toward governance models that can actually solve real coordination problems.
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