Ethereum Foundation researcher resigns as advisor to EigenLayer, apologizes to the community and reaffirms commitment to neutrality

Author: Sam Kessler, CoinDesk

Compiled by: Felix, PANews

Ethereum Foundation (EF) researchers Dankrad Feist and Justin Drake have resigned from their advisory roles at EigenLayer. A controversy over potential conflicts of interest erupted within the Ethereum community a few months ago.

As one of the hottest emerging projects in the crypto space, EigenLayer provides a platform for crypto applications by "borrowing" Ethereum's security through a new concept called "re-staking."

Ethereum is the largest smart contract blockchain and the second-largest blockchain after Bitcoin. The non-profit Ethereum Foundation (EF) is responsible for managing the development of Ethereum, and Drake and Feist are among its most well-known researchers.

In the spring of this year, Drake and Feist publicly confirmed that they were both serving as advisors to EigenLayer. They were responsible for helping EigenLayer guide its upcoming projects and roadmap. In return, Drake and Feist received a significant amount of EIGEN tokens.

The controversy surrounding these "rewards" revealed deep divisions within the crypto industry regarding conflict of interest norms, both within the Ethereum community and among some prominent figures.

Last Saturday, both researchers disclosed that they had relinquished their advisory roles at EigenLayer.

Feist stated on the X platform that: "I have decided to resign from my advisory role at Eigenlayer. While I believe this position was taken in good faith to ensure Eigenlayer aligns with Ethereum, I understand that people's views on this relationship differ, and for many, the resulting conflict of interest is difficult to reconcile with my role as an Ethereum researcher. I hope Eigenlayer continues to complement Ethereum well in many ways. But there is still much important work to be done for Ethereum, and I will focus all my energy on completing it. This will enable me to implement Danksharding and other important projects more effectively."

Additionally, Drake clarified that his advisory role was terminated before any of his EIGEN tokens vested. He stated in an X post that he would focus on L1 research and coordination.

"In September, I resigned from my advisory role at EigenFoundation. I want to apologize to the Ethereum community and my EF colleagues for the dramatic events I caused. In hindsight, this was a bad decision for me."

The Ethereum Foundation regularly provides funding to projects building on the Ethereum ecosystem and plays a significant role in the overall development of the network.

Some community members are concerned that the payments made by EigenLayer to foundation researchers amount to an attempt to influence the broader Ethereum network development roadmap.

In addition to resigning from his advisory role at EigenLayer, Drake also committed to not taking on any investments or advisory roles in the future.

"In the future, I will decline all advisory roles, angel investments, and security committees. This personal decision transcends the recent EF scope of conflict of interest policies, not because I was asked to do so, but because I want to demonstrate my commitment to neutrality."