Ethereum Foundation researcher Justin Drake reveals his advisory role at the Eigen Foundation.
Ethereum Foundation researcher Justin Drake disclosed the Eigen Foundation’s advisory role and corresponding allocation of Eigen tokens.
Drake’s disclosure follows discussions about potential conflicts of interest between EigenLayer and his employer, the Ethereum Foundation, as key developers and researchers at the organization serve in advisory roles.
On May 18, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin posted on I did.
In response, well-known cryptocurrency trader Jordan Fish, also known as Cobie, questioned Buterin’s thoughts on the incentives Ethereum Foundation core developers or researchers receive.
Fish asked, “What do you think about Ethereum Foundation core developers or researchers ‘advising’ life-changing $ packages on Ethereum-based projects? These projects may have conflicting incentives with Ethereum now or in the future.” said Fish. . “For example, let’s assume an EigenLayer, purely theoretically of course.”
Buterin did not respond. But the next morning, Drake revealed that he had recently become an advisor to the EigenFoundation, adding that the community deserves greater transparency.
“The advisory comes with significant EIGEN token incentives that could be worth more than the value of all my other assets (mainly ETH) combined,” Drake said. “We are talking about vesting millions of dollars in tokens over three years.”
Ethereum Foundation researchers pledged to “reinject” all proceeds into “worthy” projects in the Ethereum ecosystem, whether through investments or donations.
Investigate the risks of re-staking
EigenLayer is a platform that allows users to deposit and “re-stake” Ethereum in a variety of liquid staking tokens, with the goal of allocating those funds to secure third-party networks or actively verified services.
In terms of potential conflict, Drake said he is prepared to terminate the advisory at any time if he believes EigenLayer is going in a direction that runs counter to the interests of Ethereum.
Drake said he had turned down more than 100 similar roles and did not take EigenFoundation’s advice lightly, adding that they had been in discussions for over a year.
The researcher also noted that he took on the role only on the condition that his remit would be limited to reclamation risk research and not be included in any marketing materials, adding that his primary public stance would continue to be critical of EigenLayer.
“By becoming an advisor, I want to take the lead in getting back to the problem and steering EigenLayer from the inside out,” said Drake. “As a researcher, I think we came too late with liquid staking. “It’s an opportunity to avoid repeating mistakes through reshoots,” he said.
In response to concerns that EigenLayer is trying to “bribe” or “corrupt” the Ethereum Foundation, Drake said it is a large organization with over 300 people, three of whom have formal ties to EigenLayer. One is an investor and two are advisors. And I don’t see this 1% compromising morals. Drake has not revealed his identity.
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