Vitalik Buterin has allocated 16,384 ETH, valued at approximately $45 million, to fund open-source privacy and security projects over the coming years. This initiative is part of a broader budgeting reset at the Ethereum Foundation, which is entering a period of mild austerity. The funds will support the development of privacy-focused tools and security infrastructure, ensuring ongoing maintenance and enhancement of widely used libraries and applications. The allocation aims to sustain user security and privacy efforts while the Ethereum Foundation focuses on core protocol delivery. Buterin's plan includes exploring decentralized staking to provide long-term funding through staking rewards. The funding will cover operational items such as vulnerability disclosure processes and incident response playbooks, treating privacy and security as ongoing operational work rather than one-time initiatives. By reserving funds in ETH, the grants remain tied to the Ethereum ecosystem, aligning with the environment the tools aim to protect. This approach ensures transparency, as movements can be tracked on public ledgers, providing a clear trail for fund deployment. The Ethereum price was $2,740 at the time of writing, with a market cap of $330 billion.