TheDAO, the project behind Ethereum’s most consequential early crisis, is being revived as a security fund for the network it once nearly split apart.

TheDAO Security Fund is activating more than 75,000 ETH in unclaimed assets from the 2016 recovery process, worth more than $220 million. The money will be used to fund Ethereum security initiatives, turning one of the network’s oldest controversies into a long term endowment.

The original DAO launched in 2016 as an early experiment in decentralized governance. It raised one of crypto’s largest early treasuries before a reentrancy bug allowed an attacker to drain about 3.6 million ETH from the contract.

The fallout reshaped Ethereum. The community backed a hard fork to restore the funds, while opponents continued on the original chain, which became Ethereum Classic. The episode became one of the defining debates over governance, immutability, and social consensus in crypto.

Not all recovered ETH was claimed by original DAO token holders. A large portion remained idle for nearly a decade, appreciating alongside Ethereum. Those funds are now being redirected toward the ecosystem’s security needs.

The fund is led by Ethereum veterans including Griff Green, a Giveth co founder who helped coordinate the original white hat response in 2016. Its curators include Vitalik Buterin, Taylor Monahan, Jordi Baylina, pcaversaccio, Alex Van de Sande, Griff Green, and Pol Lanski.

Most of the capital will remain intact. About 69,420 ETH is expected to be staked, generating roughly $8 million in annual yield at current rates. That yield will fund security grants rather than drawing down the full principal.

An initial $13.5 million will be allocated through DAO style mechanisms, including quadratic funding, retroactive public goods funding, and ranked choice proposal processes. The goal is to direct capital toward security researchers, tooling, audits, incident response, wallet safety, and core infrastructure.

The structure keeps claims open for eligible original DAO token holders. The fund is using unclaimed assets from the recovery process, but the original claim path is not being closed.

TheDAO’s second act is symbolic and practical. Ethereum’s first major smart contract failure is now being used to finance work meant to prevent future failures.

The test will be execution. A $220 million security endowment gives Ethereum a permanent funding source, but the fund still has to prove it can route capital efficiently, avoid governance capture, and support projects that reduce real risk across the network.