Over the weekend, the biggest news in the Ethereum ecosystem was the simultaneous announcement by two Ethereum researchers, Justin Drake and Dankrad Feist, that they would resign as advisors to the EigenLayer protocol and focus their efforts back on developing the Ethereum mainnet. Following this event, we may see more Ethereum core developers beginning to pay attention to conflicts of interest issues. In fact, in a report two months ago, we pointed out that there is no conflict of interest within Ethereum, as many people at the Ethereum Foundation are working on the Optimistic rollup project.
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Justin Drake released a statement on Twitter, citing neutrality as the main reason for resigning as an advisor to EigenLayer and leaving the entire team. He mentioned that back in September, he had already given up his advisory position at EigenFoundation, and expressed his apologies to the Ethereum community and colleagues at EigenFoundation for the drama he caused. Looking back, he admitted that it was a bad move for everyone involved.
In May of this year, Ethereum researchers Justin Drake and Dankrad Feist announced that they had taken on advisory roles at EigenLayer, acknowledging that they would receive a large number of tokens for this position. However, they believed that this did not constitute a conflict of interest, and the drama Justin Drake mentioned is likely referring to this incident.
Researchers collectively resign as advisors, declaring they will no longer engage to maintain neutrality
Justin Drake stated that in the future, he will reject all invitations for advisory roles, angel investments, and security committees. He emphasized that no one asked him to do this, but it was his own commitment to neutrality.
Justin Drake also pointed out that Ethereum’s antifragility has always been a source of inspiration, as the team always finds ways to become stronger. Facing challenges in 2024, he optimistically believes that 2025 will be a fantastic year for Ethereum and a vibrant year for L1 development. He looks forward to meeting friends at Devcon.
Dankrad Feist also tweeted, “I have decided to resign from the Eigenlayer advisory role. While I believe this role is dedicated to good-faith negotiations to ensure Eigenlayer and Ethereum remain in good standing, I understand that people have different views on this relationship, and the resulting conflicts of interest are difficult to resolve.”
He added, “Eigenlayer is a great project, and I hope it continues to greatly benefit Ethereum in many ways. However, there is still a lot of important work to be done in Ethereum, and I will focus all my energy on completing it. This will allow me to more effectively implement Danksharding and other important projects.”