Unclaimed ether from 2016 DAO hack to be staked for Ethereum security fund

Green discussed the plan in an interview with Unchained podcast host Laura Shin, describing a pool of recovered ether that has remained untouched for years because some original tokenholders never completed the claims process after the incident. He said the funds will be used to support long-term security work for the network rather than sitting idle.

The DAO, a decentralized autonomous organization, was exploited in June 2016, allowing an attacker to drain more than $50 million worth of ether at the time. The event led to a hard fork that split the blockchain into Ethereum and Ethereum Classic.

Green said the fork returned most of the stolen funds to tokenholders, but the mechanics of claiming were complex and left unresolved cases. He noted that about $6 million was placed into a multisignature wallet managed by him and others to handle edge cases, and that more than 80% of the funds were eventually claimed.

The remaining balance, which Green put at around $200 million at current valuations, is expected to be staked, with the resulting revenue directed toward Ethereum security initiatives through a DAO-style governance process. He said the goal is to fund work that strengthens Ethereum’s resilience, using decentralized decision-making methods aligned with the original DAO vision.

As GNcrypto wrote on 30 January 2026, Ethereum co founder Vitalik Buterin transferred 16,384 ETH worth about $45 million to fund open source security, privacy and other public technology projects and said the funds will be deployed over the next few years. He also noted that he is exploring decentralized staking approaches that could direct future staking rewards toward ongoing funding for the work.