Ethereum Researchers Relinquish EigenLayer Roles Over Conflict of Interest Concerns

Ethereum
Foundation
researchers
Dankrad
Feist
and
Justin
Drake
have
resigned
from
their
advisory
roles
at
EigenLayer,
months
after
a

controversy
erupted
over
potential
conflicts
of
interest
within
the
Ethereum
community.

EigenLayer
is
one
of
the
most
prominent
up-and-coming
cryptocurrency
projects,
serving
as
a
platform
for
crypto
applications
to
“borrow”
Ethereum’s
security
through
a
novel
concept
called
“restaking.”

Drake
and
Feist
are
among
the
best-known
researchers
at
the
non-profit
Ethereum
Foundation,
which
is
responsible
for
stewarding
the
development
of
Ethereum,
the
largest
smart-contract
blockchain
and
the
second-largest
overall
behind
Bitcoin.

In
the
spring,
Drake
and
Feist

publicly
confirmed
that
they
had
each
accepted
advisory
roles
with
EigenLayer.
Each
researcher
was
allotted
a
significant
sum
of
EIGEN
tokens
in
exchange
for
helping
guide
the
upcoming
project
and
its
roadmap.

The
controversy
surrounding
these
payouts
revealed
deep
divisions
within
the
Ethereum
community
—
and
among
some
of
its
most
prominent
figures
—
regarding
the
industry’s
still-developing
norms
concerning
conflicts
of
interest.

On
Saturday,
both
of
the
researchers
disclosed
that
they
had
relinquished
their
advisory
roles
with
EigenLayer.

“While
I
believe
that
the
role
was
negotiated
in
good
faith
and
with
the
aim
of
making
sure
that
EigenLayer
is
well
aligned
with
Ethereum,”
Feist
said

in
an
X
post,
“I
understand
that
the
perception
of
this
relationship
has
been
different
and
that
for
many
the
conflict
of
interest
this
creates
is
difficult
to
reconcile
with
my
role
as
an
Ethereum
researcher.”

“I
want
to
apologize
to
the
Ethereum
community
and
EF
colleagues
for
the
drama
I
caused,”
Drake
said
in

his
own
X
post
announcing
that
he
had
stepped
down
from
his
EigenLayer
advisorship
in
September.
“In
hindsight
it
was
a
bad
move
for
me
to
make.”

In
a
message
to
CoinDesk,
Drake
clarified
that
his
advisorship
was
terminated
before
any
of
his
EIGEN
tokens
had
been
vested.

The
Ethereum
Foundation
regularly
awards
grants
to
projects
building
atop
the
Ethereum
ecosystem
and
has
a
major
stake
in
the
network’s
overall
development.

Some
community
members
feared
that
EigenLayer’s
payouts
to
foundation
researchers
amounted
to
an
attempt
by
the
project
to
influence
the
broader
Ethereum
network’s
development
roadmap.

In
addition
to
stepping
down
from
his
EigenLayer
advisory
role,
Drake
took
the
added
step
of
committing
not
to
make
investments
or
take
advisory
roles
in
the
future.

“Going
forward
I
will
turn
down
all
advisorships,
angel
investments,
and
security
councils,”
Drake

said
on
X.
“This
personal
policy
goes
above
and
beyond
the
recent
EF-wide
conflict
of
interest
policy,
not
because
that
was
asked
of
me
but
because
I
want
to
signal
commitment
to
neutrality.”