@aslakr I can only imagine @evan says "like what?" because he's thinking of the protocol / backend work and not Mastodon as a piece of software with a frontend.
There's so much sub-par public UX in Mastodon, but even more so if you look at the Admin and Moderation panels. A lot needs a rethink.
But this $$$ is not being spent on that. It's 2 backend engineers to work on backend according to the press release.
I just don't see E2EE as a priority for a Mastodon experience.