Andrey Sergeenkov

7 curators including Vitalik Buterin took control of ~75K ETH ($220M) in unclaimed TheDAO funds to stake them and fund Ethereum security grants. The initiative was widely covered as a positive story: Ethereum OGs turning dormant funds into a security endowment. No major outlet questioned the legitimacy of the process. What concerns me: 1. Two original curators resigned. Timon Rapp called it "a violation of the original mandate and fiduciary duties," stating these funds belong to original DAO investors, not to curators. Gian Bochsler sought legal advice and refused to sign. There was no formal vote — the decision was made in a private Signal chat. 2. The conflicts of interest are layered. Three of seven new curators are founders of DappNode, which will stake the funds and collect a 7% fee from rewards. The first grant went to SEAL 911, co-founded by curator pcaversaccio. Another curator, Taylor Monahan, has been involved with SEAL 911 since its launch. Vitalik Buterin donated $500K to SEAL in 2024. The Ethereum Foundation, which sets grant eligibility for the fund, is itself a major SEAL donor and sponsor. Griff Green already faced similar questions in 2023 when Optimism delegates raised concerns about him using his delegate status to advance grants for projects he co-founded, with his company charging a percentage of those same grants. 3. Curator pcaversaccio intentionally routed the funds through a Tornado Cash-linked address to "make fun of the term tainted" — creating compliance risk for every future claimant and grant recipient. 4. Two of the original curators insisted that repurposing these funds required court approval or a similar formal process: "such a decision is not ours to make unilaterally." No court declared these funds abandoned. No legal authority appointed the new curators. 5. This sets a precedent: if multisig signers can repurpose funds after a period of inactivity, it affects anyone holding assets in smart contract wallets. This is an ongoing investigation, some quotes may appear in this piece: https://sergeenkov.com/thedao-curators-220m-hack-victims/ What's your take on this?