Ethereum Researcher Resigns from EigenLayer Advisory Role Commits to No Longer Taking on Side Projects

The biggest news in the Ethereum ecosystem over the weekend was the simultaneous announcement by two Ethereum researchers, Justin Drake and Dankrad Feist, that they would be resigning from their advisory roles at the EigenLayer protocol and focusing their efforts back on the development of the Ethereum mainnet. Following this event, we may see more Ethereum core developers starting 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 from the Ethereum Foundation are working on the Optimistic rollup project.

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Justin Drake stated on Twitter that he was mainly resigning from his advisory role at EigenLayer due to issues of neutrality, and he would be leaving the entire team. He mentioned that he had already given up his advisory position at EigenFoundation in September and wanted to apologize to the Ethereum community and his colleagues at EigenFoundation for the drama he caused. Looking back, he believed it was a bad move for everyone involved.
In May of this year, Ethereum researchers Justin Drake and Dankrad Feist both announced that they would be taking on advisory roles at EigenLayer, acknowledging that they would receive a large amount of tokens for this position. However, they believed this did not constitute a conflict of interest, and this is likely what Justin Drake referred to as the drama.

Researchers collectively resign from advisory roles, declaring they will no longer engage in such activities to maintain neutrality

Justin Drake stated that in the future he would refuse all invitations for advisory, angel investment, and security committee roles. He mentioned that no one had asked him to do so, but it was his own commitment to neutrality.
Justin Drake also pointed out that the anti-fragility of Ethereum has always been an inspiration, and the team has always found 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 research and development. He looks forward to meeting friends at Devcon.
Dankrad Feist also wrote on Twitter, “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 maintain a good relationship, I understand that people have differing 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 help Ethereum in many ways. But 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 critical projects.”