The Ethereum Foundation's primary treasury wallet - a 4-of-7 multisig written by Gavin Wood, deployed 9 days after mainnet launch. The ancestor of the Parity mu
Key Facts
Description
This contract is the first Ethereum Foundation treasury wallet and one of the earliest examples of institutional fund management implemented directly on Ethereum. Its design reflects early best practices around shared control and spending limits, preceding later standardization of multi-signature wallets.
The address became a long-standing reference point for the community, shaping early conversations about governance, accountability, and the role of foundations in decentralized ecosystems.
Deployed at block 54,092 on August 8, 2015, this is the Ethereum Foundation's first on-chain treasury. The contract was created by address 0x5abfec25f74cd88437631a7731906932776356f9 and configured as a 4-of-7 multisig with a 1,000 ETH daily spending limit.
Source Code and Authorship
The source code was written by Gavin Wood and first committed to the ethereum/dapp-bin repository on January 23, 2015, six months before Ethereum launched. The contract is composed of four inherited contracts: multiowned (multi-signature owner management), daylimit (daily spending caps), multisig (interface), and Wallet (the main contract combining all three).
The contract was never verified on Etherscan and carries no on-chain name. Its bytecode exposes 19 function selectors including execute, confirm, addOwner, removeOwner, changeOwner, changeRequirement, setDailyLimit, and notably, kill - a selfdestruct function protected by the multi-signature requirement.
The Parity Connection
This contract is the direct ancestor of the Parity multisig wallet. Gavin Wood's wallet.sol from dapp-bin evolved into the Parity wallet contracts that suffered two catastrophic incidents in 2017: the July hack ($30M stolen) and the November freeze ($150M locked permanently when the library contract was selfdestructed). The EF's original deployment survived both events because it was deployed as a standalone contract, not as a proxy pointing to a shared library.
60 Selfdestruct Attempts
Over its 10+ year history, the kill(address) function has been called 60 times by various addresses attempting to destroy the contract and claim its ETH. Every attempt failed because kill requires the onlymanyowners modifier - 4 of 7 authorized signers must approve the operation. These failed attempts are visible on-chain as transactions to the contract with method ID 0xcbf0b0c0.
Treasury Operations
The wallet has processed 3,171 transactions from 1,640 unique senders. It has been continuously active from 2015 through 2026, with the most recent transaction on March 2, 2026. Large outflows follow a pattern of 1,000 ETH daily transfers (matching the daily limit), primarily to two EOA addresses. A single 160,000 ETH transfer occurred on October 21, 2025.
The contract currently holds approximately 10,774 ETH. Owner rotation has occurred over the years - of the 7 addresses that transacted in the first week after deployment, only one remains an active owner today.
Source Verified
Gavin Wood's wallet.sol from ethereum/dapp-bin, compiled with solc v0.1.1. The direct ancestor of the Parity multisig that was later hacked.
Heuristic Analysis
The following characteristics were detected through bytecode analysis and may not be accurate.
Frontier Era
The initial release of Ethereum. A bare-bones implementation for technical users.
Bytecode Overview
Verified Source Available
Source verified through compiler archaeology and exact bytecode matching.
View Verification ProofShow source code (Solidity)
//sol Wallet
// Multi-sig, daily-limited account proxy/wallet.
// @authors:
// Gav Wood <g@ethdev.com>
// inheritable "property" contract that enables methods to be protected by requiring the acquiescence of either a
// single, or, crucially, each of a number of, designated owners.
// usage:
// use modifiers onlyowner (just own owned) or onlymanyowners(hash), whereby the same hash must be provided by
// some number (specified in constructor) of the set of owners (specified in the constructor, modifiable) before the
// interior is executed.
contract multiowned {
// TYPES
// struct for the status of a pending operation.
struct PendingState {
uint yetNeeded;
uint ownersDone;
uint index;
}
// EVENTS
// this contract only has five types of events: it can accept a confirmation, in which case
// we record owner and operation (hash) alongside it.
event Confirmation(address owner, bytes32 operation);
event Revoke(address owner, bytes32 operation);
// some others are in the case of an owner changing.
event OwnerChanged(address oldOwner, address newOwner);
event OwnerAdded(address newOwner);
event OwnerRemoved(address oldOwner);
// the last one is emitted if the required signatures change
event RequirementChanged(uint newRequirement);
// MODIFIERS
// simple single-sig function modifier.
modifier onlyowner {
if (isOwner(msg.sender))
_
}
// multi-sig function modifier: the operation must have an intrinsic hash in order
// that later attempts can be realised as the same underlying operation and
// thus count as confirmations.
modifier onlymanyowners(bytes32 _operation) {
if (confirmAndCheck(_operation))
_
}
// METHODS
// constructor is given number of sigs required to do protected "onlymanyowners" transactions
// as well as the selection of addresses capable of confirming them.
function multiowned(address[] _owners, uint _required) {
m_numOwners = _owners.length + 1;
m_owners[1] = uint(msg.sender);
m_ownerIndex[uint(msg.sender)] = 1;
for (uint i = 0; i < _owners.length; ++i)
{
m_owners[2 + i] = uint(_owners[i]);
m_ownerIndex[uint(_owners[i])] = 2 + i;
}
m_required = _required;
}
// Revokes a prior confirmation of the given operation
function revoke(bytes32 _operation) external {
uint ownerIndex = m_ownerIndex[uint(msg.sender)];
// make sure they're an owner
if (ownerIndex == 0) return;
uint ownerIndexBit = 2**ownerIndex;
var pending = m_pending[_operation];
if (pending.ownersDone & ownerIndexBit > 0) {
pending.yetNeeded++;
pending.ownersDone -= ownerIndexBit;
Revoke(msg.sender, _operation);
}
}
// Replaces an owner `_from` with another `_to`.
function changeOwner(address _from, address _to) onlymanyowners(sha3(msg.data)) external {
if (isOwner(_to)) return;
uint ownerIndex = m_ownerIndex[uint(_from)];
if (ownerIndex == 0) return;
clearPending();
m_owners[ownerIndex] = uint(_to);
m_ownerIndex[uint(_from)] = 0;
m_ownerIndex[uint(_to)] = ownerIndex;
OwnerChanged(_from, _to);
}
function addOwner(address _owner) onlymanyowners(sha3(msg.data)) external {
if (isOwner(_owner)) return;
clearPending();
if (m_numOwners >= c_maxOwners)
reorganizeOwners();
if (m_numOwners >= c_maxOwners)
return;
m_numOwners++;
m_owners[m_numOwners] = uint(_owner);
m_ownerIndex[uint(_owner)] = m_numOwners;
OwnerAdded(_owner);
}
function removeOwner(address _owner) onlymanyowners(sha3(msg.data)) external {
uint ownerIndex = m_ownerIndex[uint(_owner)];
if (ownerIndex == 0) return;
if (m_required > m_numOwners - 1) return;
m_owners[ownerIndex] = 0;
m_ownerIndex[uint(_owner)] = 0;
clearPending();
reorganizeOwners(); //make sure m_numOwner is equal to the number of owners and always points to the optimal free slot
OwnerRemoved(_owner);
}
function changeRequirement(uint _newRequired) onlymanyowners(sha3(msg.data)) external {
if (_newRequired > m_numOwners) return;
m_required = _newRequired;
clearPending();
RequirementChanged(_newRequired);
}
function isOwner(address _addr) returns (bool) {
return m_ownerIndex[uint(_addr)] > 0;
}
function hasConfirmed(bytes32 _operation, address _owner) constant returns (bool) {
var pending = m_pending[_operation];
uint ownerIndex = m_ownerIndex[uint(_owner)];
// make sure they're an owner
if (ownerIndex == 0) return false;
// determine the bit to set for this owner.
uint ownerIndexBit = 2**ownerIndex;
if (pending.ownersDone & ownerIndexBit == 0) {
return false;
} else {
return true;
}
}
// INTERNAL METHODS
function confirmAndCheck(bytes32 _operation) internal returns (bool) {
// determine what index the present sender is:
uint ownerIndex = m_ownerIndex[uint(msg.sender)];
// make sure they're an owner
if (ownerIndex == 0) return;
var pending = m_pending[_operation];
// if we're not yet working on this operation, switch over and reset the confirmation status.
if (pending.yetNeeded == 0) {
// reset count of confirmations needed.
pending.yetNeeded = m_required;
// reset which owners have confirmed (none) - set our bitmap to 0.
pending.ownersDone = 0;
pending.index = m_pendingIndex.length++;
m_pendingIndex[pending.index] = _operation;
}
// determine the bit to set for this owner.
uint ownerIndexBit = 2**ownerIndex;
// make sure we (the message sender) haven't confirmed this operation previously.
if (pending.ownersDone & ownerIndexBit == 0) {
Confirmation(msg.sender, _operation);
// ok - check if count is enough to go ahead.
if (pending.yetNeeded <= 1) {
// enough confirmations: reset and run interior.
delete m_pendingIndex[m_pending[_operation].index];
delete m_pending[_operation];
return true;
}
else
{
// not enough: record that this owner in particular confirmed.
pending.yetNeeded--;
pending.ownersDone |= ownerIndexBit;
}
}
}
function reorganizeOwners() private returns (bool) {
uint free = 1;
while (free < m_numOwners)
{
while (free < m_numOwners && m_owners[free] != 0) free++;
while (m_numOwners > 1 && m_owners[m_numOwners] == 0) m_numOwners--;
if (free < m_numOwners && m_owners[m_numOwners] != 0 && m_owners[free] == 0)
{
m_owners[free] = m_owners[m_numOwners];
m_ownerIndex[m_owners[free]] = free;
m_owners[m_numOwners] = 0;
}
}
}
function clearPending() internal {
uint length = m_pendingIndex.length;
for (uint i = 0; i < length; ++i)
if (m_pendingIndex[i] != 0)
delete m_pending[m_pendingIndex[i]];
delete m_pendingIndex;
}
// FIELDS
// the number of owners that must confirm the same operation before it is run.
uint public m_required;
// pointer used to find a free slot in m_owners
uint public m_numOwners;
// list of owners
uint[256] m_owners;
uint constant c_maxOwners = 250;
// index on the list of owners to allow reverse lookup
mapping(uint => uint) m_ownerIndex;
// the ongoing operations.
mapping(bytes32 => PendingState) m_pending;
bytes32[] m_pendingIndex;
}
// inheritable "property" contract that enables methods to be protected by placing a linear limit (specifiable)
// on a particular resource per calendar day. is multiowned to allow the limit to be altered. resource that method
// uses is specified in the modifier.
contract daylimit is multiowned {
// MODIFIERS
// simple modifier for daily limit.
modifier limitedDaily(uint _value) {
if (underLimit(_value))
_
}
// METHODS
// constructor - stores initial daily limit and records the present day's index.
function daylimit(uint _limit) {
m_dailyLimit = _limit;
m_lastDay = today();
}
// (re)sets the daily limit. needs many of the owners to confirm. doesn't alter the amount already spent today.
function setDailyLimit(uint _newLimit) onlymanyowners(sha3(msg.data)) external {
m_dailyLimit = _newLimit;
}
// (re)sets the daily limit. needs many of the owners to confirm. doesn't alter the amount already spent today.
function resetSpentToday() onlymanyowners(sha3(msg.data)) external {
m_spentToday = 0;
}
// INTERNAL METHODS
// checks to see if there is at least `_value` left from the daily limit today. if there is, subtracts it and
// returns true. otherwise just returns false.
function underLimit(uint _value) internal onlyowner returns (bool) {
// reset the spend limit if we're on a different day to last time.
if (today() > m_lastDay) {
m_spentToday = 0;
m_lastDay = today();
}
// check to see if there's enough left - if so, subtract and return true.
if (m_spentToday + _value >= m_spentToday && m_spentToday + _value <= m_dailyLimit) {
m_spentToday += _value;
return true;
}
return false;
}
// determines today's index.
function today() private constant returns (uint) { return now / 1 days; }
// FIELDS
uint public m_dailyLimit;
uint m_spentToday;
uint m_lastDay;
}
// interface contract for multisig proxy contracts; see below for docs.
contract multisig {
// EVENTS
// logged events:
// Funds has arrived into the wallet (record how much).
event Deposit(address from, uint value);
// Single transaction going out of the wallet (record who signed for it, how much, and to whom it's going).
event SingleTransact(address owner, uint value, address to, bytes data);
// Multi-sig transaction going out of the wallet (record who signed for it last, the operation hash, how much, and to whom it's going).
event MultiTransact(address owner, bytes32 operation, uint value, address to, bytes data);
// Confirmation still needed for a transaction.
event ConfirmationNeeded(bytes32 operation, address initiator, uint value, address to, bytes data);
// FUNCTIONS
// TODO: document
function changeOwner(address _from, address _to) external;
function execute(address _to, uint _value, bytes _data) external returns (bytes32);
function confirm(bytes32 _h) returns (bool);
}
// usage:
// bytes32 h = Wallet(w).from(oneOwner).transact(to, value, data);
// Wallet(w).from(anotherOwner).confirm(h);
contract Wallet is multisig, multiowned, daylimit {
// TYPES
// Transaction structure to remember details of transaction lest it need be saved for a later call.
struct Transaction {
address to;
uint value;
bytes data;
}
// METHODS
// constructor - just pass on the owner array to the multiowned and
// the limit to daylimit
function Wallet(address[] _owners, uint _required, uint _daylimit)
multiowned(_owners, _required) daylimit(_daylimit) {
}
// kills the contract sending everything to `_to`.
function kill(address _to) onlymanyowners(sha3(msg.data)) external {
suicide(_to);
}
// gets called when no other function matches
function() {
// just being sent some cash?
if (msg.value > 0)
Deposit(msg.sender, msg.value);
}
// Outside-visible transact entry point. Executes transacion immediately if below daily spend limit.
// If not, goes into multisig process. We provide a hash on return to allow the sender to provide
// shortcuts for the other confirmations (allowing them to avoid replicating the _to, _value
// and _data arguments). They still get the option of using them if they want, anyways.
function execute(address _to, uint _value, bytes _data) external onlyowner returns (bytes32 _r) {
// first, take the opportunity to check that we're under the daily limit.
if (underLimit(_value)) {
SingleTransact(msg.sender, _value, _to, _data);
// yes - just execute the call.
_to.call.value(_value)(_data);
return 0;
}
// determine our operation hash.
_r = sha3(msg.data, block.number);
if (!confirm(_r) && m_txs[_r].to == 0) {
m_txs[_r].to = _to;
m_txs[_r].value = _value;
m_txs[_r].data = _data;
ConfirmationNeeded(_r, msg.sender, _value, _to, _data);
}
}
// confirm a transaction through just the hash. we use the previous transactions map, m_txs, in order
// to determine the body of the transaction from the hash provided.
function confirm(bytes32 _h) onlymanyowners(_h) returns (bool) {
if (m_txs[_h].to != 0) {
m_txs[_h].to.call.value(m_txs[_h].value)(m_txs[_h].data);
MultiTransact(msg.sender, _h, m_txs[_h].value, m_txs[_h].to, m_txs[_h].data);
delete m_txs[_h];
return true;
}
}
// INTERNAL METHODS
function clearPending() internal {
uint length = m_pendingIndex.length;
for (uint i = 0; i < length; ++i)
delete m_txs[m_pendingIndex[i]];
super.clearPending();
}
// FIELDS
// pending transactions we have at present.
mapping (bytes32 => Transaction) m_txs;
}