Exclusive: The DAO’s Unclaimed ETH Becomes a $220M Ethereum Security Fund

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Nearly a decade after the DAO hack, unclaimed ETH is being repurposed to secure Ethereum’s future. EPISODE LINK: https://unchainedcrypto.com/the-dao-is-back/ ===================== Thank you to our sponsor, Walrus! - http://walrus.xyz/ Walrus is where the world’s data becomes reliable, valuable, and governable. ===================== In this exclusive Unchained interview, Griff Green, one of the original DAO curators and a member of the White Hat Group that helped recover funds after the 2016 DAO hack, reveals how tens of thousands of unclaimed ETH are being transformed into a long-term security fund for the Ethereum ecosystem. Nearly ten years after the most infamous exploit in crypto history, the community is repurposing its leftovers, not to rewrite history, but to prevent it from repeating itself. The new DAO Security Fund will deploy grants for Ethereum security research, infrastructure, incident response, and user protection, while also reviving DAO-based governance experiments that have fallen out of favor. Griff explains how the fund will work, why the Ethereum Foundation is involved, how staking will generate sustainable funding, and why, despite Ethereum’s strength, crypto still isn’t safe enough for everyday users. Guest: ⭐️ Griff Green, Co-Founder at Giveth, q/acc & Unicorn.eth Timestamps: 🚀 0:00 Introduction 🧠 1:43 Why unclaimed DAO ETH is finally being put to work 🧭 8:17 Why Griff says this feels “necessary” now and where the unclaimed ETH comes from 🔒 15:49 Why they are not selling DAO tokens, and the floor-price logic 📈 17:41 Staking plan: 69,420 ETH and how grants get funded 🗳️ 20:10 How grants will be awarded using DAO-style distributions 🧷 22:21 What is eligible: Ethereum and L2s, not broad EVM “everything” 🤝 24:17 How the Ethereum Foundation fits in, plus round operators 🚨 27:46 “Hot wallets are a bug”: why scammers thrive on browser keys 💰 34:02 How the funds are intended to advance the DAO space 🧠 38:28 The origin story: the Burning Man message that kicked this off 👥 45:30 Curators then vs now, and who is involved this time 🤔 51:42 Vitalik’s reaction to this idea 😬 58:32 Why centralized platforms can protect users better today 🧬 1:02:48 Is returning funds harder than rescuing them? 🏛️ 1:04:17 Reputation over money, and why he optimized for it 📬 1:14:52 How builders can get involved and apply 🧩 1:20:31 Griff’s closing: “don’t tear Ethereum security apart” #bitcoin #ethereum #crypto #cryptocurrencies ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Subscribe to our channel! CHECK OUT THE CRYPTOPIANS → https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFzunCFXrv4 WEBSITE → https://unchainedcrypto.com UNCHAINED DAILY NEWSLETTER → https://unchainedcrypto.beehiiv.com/subscribe/ LAURA'S TWITTER → https://x.com/laurashin UNCHAINED TWITTER → https://x.com/unchained_pod FACEBOOK → https://www.facebook.com/unchainedwithlaurashin INSTAGRAM → https://www.instagram.com/laurashin/?hl=en LINKEDIN → https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurashin/ MERCHANDISE → https://unchainedpodcast.company.site/ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ NEW EPISODES OF UNCHAINED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY! ALONG WITH BITS & BIPS AND THE CHOPPING BLOCK Apple → https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/id1123922160?ls=1 Spotify → https://open.spotify.com/show/1cJrrfGY1SKBIRn5noKSAf?si=6SI4qIcRTEO7EhOe0V9n4w RSS Feed → https://feeds.megaphone.fm/LSHML4761942757 YOUR NO-HYPE RESOURCE FOR ALL THINGS CRYPTO!