Vitalik Buterin commits 16,384 ETH worth 45 million to open source security

Buterin noted the move coincides with the Ethereum Foundation entering what he called a period of mild austerity aimed at long-term sustainability. He described the allocation as his own share of that austerity and added that he plans to take on work that had been handled as foundation special projects.

He wrote that the funds are intended to support development of an open-source, secure and verifiable full stack spanning areas including finance, communication, governance, operating systems, secure hardware and biotech applications for personal and public health. Buterin added that the ETH will be deployed over the next few years.

Buterin added that he is exploring decentralized staking approaches that could direct future staking rewards toward ongoing funding for the projects. He also wrote that Ethereum remains an indispensable part of the broader effort, while the Ethereum Foundation will keep its focus on core protocol development with a priority of Ethereum for people who need it over Ethereum everywhere.

The announcement followed a series of public comments from Buterin about priorities for 2026. On 16 January 2026, he wrote that 2026 should be a year to regain lost ground on self-sovereignty and trustlessness. He also pointed to work on privacy tooling, including efforts such as the Ethereum Foundation Kohaku wallet framework and the Helios light client, and wrote that he wants private payments to match the user experience of public transactions. Buterin also wrote that he plans to return fully to decentralized social media in 2026 after Mask Network acquired Lens Protocol, arguing that shared data layers can allow multiple clients to coexist.