Ethereum’s Dankrad Feist joins EigenLayer and faces community backlash

Ethereum researcher Dankrad Feist announced his decision to join EigenLayer as an advisor. Feist, following in the footsteps of fellow researcher Justin Drake, said the move was not representative of the Ethereum Foundation and would “remain focused on risk and decentralization.”

“I recently decided to become an advisor to Eigenlayer on equal terms with Justin Drake. I personally take this position (…) so I fully expect to have opposing views on Eigenlayer.”

Feist’s announcement sparked a mix of backlash and support from the community due to the potential conflict of interest and the fact that Feist would receive “a significant amount of tokens from this position.”

Feist explained that he does not believe token allocation will “change or influence” his stance on how the core protocol is developed. Instead, he believes the new role will be “a huge benefit to Ethereum if it is performed by someone with high integrity.”

“I believe our current leaders intend to do so, and I plan to hold them accountable for this. I will not hesitate to take a stand or resign from my position if I believe this is no longer true.”

Amid community backlash, one community member expressed gratitude for the disclosure, speculating that the “anxiety” Feist and Drake received may have been due to the “badness” of EigenLayer.

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Lefteris Karapetsas, founder of Rotkiapp, expressed disappointment with “EF researchers.” He left a blunt comment on X’s post on May 21st.

“This is a clear conflict of interest for a key decision-maker in the development of the Ethereum protocol and should never be tolerated.”

Karapetsas described himself as “appalled” by the decision Feist and Drake made, adding that “even if they promised” to not let compensation cloud their judgment, it was “impossible.”

On May 19, Drake posted about his decision to take on a paid EigenLayer advisor role, which will be rewarded with “multiple million dollars” worth of EIGEN tokens.

Drake acknowledged that his “personal reputation” would be at risk if he took on the role, and explained that he would “manipulate EigenLayer from within.”

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