Vitalik Buterin is deploying $45 million of personal ETH over several years to fund privacy-first, open source hardware and software, backing a full-stack, trustless ecosystem beyond the Ethereum Foundation’s core roadmap.
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has earmarked 16,384 Ether (ETH), worth about $45 million, from his personal holdings to fund privacy-focused and open-source technology development, marking one of the largest founder-led commitments to public digital infrastructure in the ecosystem.
The capital will be deployed gradually over several years rather than spent immediately, supporting privacy-preserving technologies, open hardware, and secure, verifiable software systems. Buterin described the objective as building an open-source “full stack” capable of protecting both personal life and public environments.
He will personally take on special initiatives that might otherwise sit with the Ethereum Foundation, positioning the work as complementary to Ethereum’s decentralised base layer.
The Ethereum Foundation, meanwhile, is entering what Buterin called “mild austerity”, while maintaining an aggressive technical roadmap and keeping its focus on the core blockchain layer.
Funding is designed for long-term sustainability. Buterin may supplement the pool through decentralised staking strategies, with rewards extending the pace and scale of grants. The Foundation is also exploring alternatives such as DeFi lending and staking.
Priority areas include privacy tools, open infrastructure, self-sovereign and local-first systems, encrypted communications, open silicon, secure hardware, and verifiable software stacks across finance, governance, operating systems, and blockchain infrastructure, using techniques such as zero-knowledge proofs and fully homomorphic encryption.
No detailed project allocations were disclosed, underscoring a broad, mission-led push to strengthen open, trustless public goods.
