‘I quit consulting EigenLayer’ – ETH Foundation’s Justin Drake
Following the controversy that erupted in May 2024, Ethereum Foundation researcher Justin Drake announced his resignation from the Eigen Foundation – the body responsible for overseeing the development of the Eigenlayer re-protocol – in a November 2nd social media post.
In September 2024, Drake announced that he had stepped down as an advisor to the Eigen Foundation and had also left the band Ultra Sound. While the researcher publicly apologized to the Ethereum community:
“Going forward, I will drop all advisors, angel investments and security councils. This personal policy is more than the recent Ethereum Foundation's broad interest policy. This is not because I was asked, but because I want to signal. Commitment to independence.”
Rather than taking roles in other projects, Drake said he wants to focus his time and efforts on building Ethereum's Layer-1 network, specifically consensus building.
Source: Justin Drake
Related: EigenLayer X account hacked, shares malicious airdrop link
Drake sparked controversy and was accused of a conflict of interest
On May 19, 2024, Justin Drake announced that he had accepted a paid consulting position at the Aigen Foundation – sparking controversy and backlash from the Ethereum community. In return for advising the EIGEN Foundation, Drake said he received millions of dollars worth of EIGEN tokens.
At the time, a researcher at the Ethereum Foundation stated that the value of the tokens was “more than the combined value of all my other assets” and indicated that his role was limited to studying various technical, protocol and structural risks. Regeneration.
Drake also made it clear that he will not participate in EigenLayer's public marketing when he accepts the position.
Following Drake's announcement, prominent Ethereum Foundation researcher Dankrad Fest began recommending Eigenlayer — drawing widespread criticism and further allegations of a conflict of interest.
Drake and Fest's actions prompted the Ethereum Foundation to develop a conflict policy to avoid similar controversies in the future and to quell backlash from the Ethereum community.
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