Ethereum Researchers Leave EigenLayer Advisory Role Following Controversy — Details

Two Ethereum Foundation researchers Justin Drake and Dankrad Feist have disclosed the decisions to drop their advisorship positions with EigenLayer. The two experts took on this role with the restaking protocol earlier in May 2024 — but much to the disappointment of the crypto community.

As reported by Bitcoinist, the prominent crypto figures took the step to join EigenLayer as advisors, with Drake specifically promising to reinvest his earnings into the ETH ecosystem. Nevertheless, the crypto community on the social media platform X raised their concerns about conflicts of interest surrounding the appointment of the Ethereum researchers. 

Justin Drake Apologizes To Ethereum Community And Foundation 

In a November 2 post on X, Justin Drake announced that he dropped the advisory role with EigenLayer in September 2024 and has also left the Ultra Sound team. The researcher also apologized to the Ethereum community and his colleagues at the foundation for the controversy surrounding his appointment.

Drake added in the post:

Going forward I will turn down all advisorships, angel investments, and security councils. This personal policy goes above and beyond the recent EF [Ethereum Foundation]-wide conflict of interest policy, not because that was asked of me but because I want to signal [a] commitment to neutrality.

As highlighted in Drake’s message, the crossover to Eigenlayer by the two researchers forced the Ethereum Foundation to craft a conflict-of-interest policy in order to avoid a repeat of such incidents. Following the moves, executive director Aya Miyaguchi was the first to indicate the foundation’s commitment to addressing the issue of conflict of interest.

More Danksharding Upgrades?

Oddly, Dankrad Feist at the same time released a message on X announcing his decision to resign from his advisorship role at EigenLayer. The famous creator of the “Danksharding” concept reiterated that while the contract was negotiated in good faith, he understands how the relationship with EigenLayer could be easily misunderstood.

Feist noted:

Eigenlayer is a great project that I hope will continue to complement Ethereum well in several ways. But Ethereum has a lot of important work to do and I will focus all my attention on getting it done. This will allow me to be more effective in implementing Danksharding and other important projects.

These announcements garnered positive responses from the crypto community on the X platform, with several notable figures labeling their decisions to leave EigenLayer a good call.