Exclusive: The DAO’s Unclaimed ETH Becomes a $220M Ethereum Security Fund
Watch on YouTube ↗  |  January 29, 2026 at 17:00 UTC  |  1:23:50  |  Unchained (Chopping Block)
Speakers
Laura Shin — Host of Unchained
Griff Green — Co-founder at GTH and The DAO Security Fund

Summary

  • The residual funds from the infamous 2016 "The DAO" hack, previously thought to be dust, have grown to approximately $200M-$220M due to ETH price appreciation.
  • These funds (specifically the "Extra Balance" contract) are being repurposed into the "DAO Security Fund."
  • The fund will stake 69,420 ETH to generate yield (approx. $8M/year at current rates) to fund Ethereum security public goods.
  • A major contrarian take from Griff Green is that "hot wallets are a bug," suggesting the industry is fueling cybercrime by normalizing browser-based key storage.
Trade Ideas
Ticker Direction Speaker Thesis Time
LONG Griff Green
Co-founder at GTH and The DAO Security Fund
Griff explicitly states, "Hot wallets are a bug." He argues that browser extension wallets (like MetaMask/Rabby) fuel the cybercrime industry because keys are stored on internet-connected devices. He urges a billboard campaign saying "Buy a hardware wallet." The fund intends to spend millions annually on security education and tooling. If the narrative shifts from "convenience" to "hot wallets are negligent," there will be a second-order surge in demand for hardware wallets (Ledger, Trezor, GridPlus) and air-gapped solutions. LONG. The industry is pivoting toward "Smart Accounts" and hardware signers as the standard for holding significant assets. UX friction remains high; users may prefer centralized custodians (Coinbase/Bybit) over self-custody due to complexity. 29:47
WATCH Griff Green
Co-founder at GTH and The DAO Security Fund
Griff mentions that the old DAO multisigs are outdated and dangerous, contrasting them with modern infrastructure like "Safe" (formerly Gnosis Safe) which allows transaction simulation. He also states the fund will use "DAO style distributions" like "Quadratic Funding" (the mechanism popularized by Gitcoin). The DAO Security Fund will likely utilize Safe for its own treasury management and fund projects that integrate with it. Additionally, by committing to Quadratic Funding, they validate the utility of governance/funding tokens like GTC (Gitcoin) that facilitate these mechanisms. WATCH. These assets represent the "picks and shovels" of the security and governance infrastructure that this $200M fund will be utilizing and subsidizing. The fund may build custom tooling rather than using existing tokens; governance tokens often lack value accrual mechanisms. 35:52
ETH
LONG Griff Green
Co-founder at GTH and The DAO Security Fund
The DAO Security Fund is taking approximately 70,000 ETH (specifically 69,420 ETH from the extra balance) and staking it to generate yield for grants. They are explicitly "Ethereum aligned" and will not support other L1s unless the tech is chain-agnostic. This action permanently locks a significant amount of supply into staking contracts, removing it from circulation. Furthermore, it creates a permanent, price-insensitive buyer of security services within the ETH ecosystem, reinforcing the "ETH as collateral/money" thesis. LONG. This is a supply sink and a vote of confidence from Ethereum OGs (including Vitalik Buterin as a curator). Smart contract risk in the staking setup; ETH price volatility affecting the grant budget. 0:10