Ethereum Devs Quit EigenLayer Advisory Positions

Only five months after stepping into advisory roles on EigenLayer, Ethereum developers Justin Drake and Dankrad Feist have abandoned their posts. 

The decision, announced by the two of them separately on X over the weekend, was justified by leaning into the legitimacy concerns that holding a position on the restaking protocol raised. 

"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," said Feist.

Drake, a key member of the Ethereum Foundation, wrote a mea culpa:  "In hindsight it was a bad move for me to make."

He promised to focus on neutrality and research on the L1, pledged to turn down all future offers of positions in blockchain projects, and apologised to the Ethereum community for "the drama" caused by the situation. 

The announcement in May that the two developers were joining EigenFoundation as advisors triggered a discussion about transparency and conflict of interests in the Ethereum Foundation. 

One key concern of the community regarding their taking the role was how loyal they would continue to be to Ethereum as, with their position in the restaking protocol, they would, as Drake himself said, stand to gain "millions of dollars of tokens vesting over 3 years."

Drake and Feist left their position in September, the month of the $EIGEN token launch and, therefore, before any token had vested, meaning that they didn't make any money from the five-month tenure.

Now that the developers have announced their resignation, the community has shifted from worrying about Feist and Drake's conflict of interest to worrying that Ethereum developers are underpaid and overworked. "Do the EF researchers accept donations?" asked one user.

In May, the controversy surrounding their advisors' positions led the executive director of the Ethereum Foundation, Aya Miyaguchi, to admit that "relying on culture and individual judgment has not been sufficient." She discussed implementing a conflict-of-interest policy, which often entails sharpening incentive schemes, but so far, nothing on the matter has been officially drawn out. 

In his resignation post, Drake noted that his decision to leave EigenLayer, drop all other positions, and refuse further invites was his decision and not an imposition from the Ethereum Foundation: "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 my commitment to neutrality."

Neither developer mentioned any disagreement with EigenLayer. Both said that there was a lot of work to be done in Ethereum so that Layer One's ambitious roadmap could be implemented. "There's a solid half-decade of critical work ahead. L1 builders have their work cut out, and I want to keep giving it my best shot," said Drake.