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Drake, Feist Walk from EigenLayer Advisory – Eth Devs Raise Eyebrows

Ethereum devs Justin Drake and Dankrad Feist shook the protocol’s core today, posting on X about quitting their advisory gigs with EigenLayer – a prime platform in Ethereum’s DeFi scene. The move wasn’t small news. In fact, it was like a signal flare from Ethereum’s innards, blasting the message that “neutrality” ain’t up for grabs. Since EigenLayer holds down a top-3 spot in Total Value Locked (TVL) on Ethereum, community concerns were already simmering. But when word got out that these two crypto minds were in for “millions” in token allocations? Well, that was enough to light up Twitter.

Drake, who actually nixed his role back in September, went first, issuing what he called a long-overdue apology. “I want to apologise to the Ethereum community and EF [Ethereum Foundation] colleagues for the drama I caused,” he wrote. “In hindsight it was a bad move for me to make.” The Ethereum crew took this as a big stand – stepping away from a juicy advisory role and those heavy token payouts? That’s real. The noise out there was all about how tight ties with a project like Eigen could warp judgment, especially for top-level Ethereum engineers.

Neutrality or Nah? EigenLayer’s Big Token Vests Cause a Rumble

This entire ruckus traces back to May, when Ethereum loyalists hit the roof about the double-duty advisory roles. EigenLayer wasn’t just any project—it’s a DeFi kingpin on the Ethereum blockchain, and critics were yapping about major conflicts of interest. Drake himself didn’t shy from the details. He mentioned a “significant” payout lined up: tokens vesting over three years, a good few million dollars in value. And that, for a bunch of ETH maxis, was like mixing water and oil.

Feist added fuel to the fire with his own X post: “Eigenlayer is a great project that I hope will continue to complement Ethereum well in several ways. But Ethereum has a lot of important work to do and I will focus all my attention on getting it done,” he explained. Even as he praised Eigen, the message was clear – Feist was getting out.

Ethereum Eyes Policy, Drake Pledges No More Side Hustles

Aya Miyaguchi, Ethereum Foundation’s top exec, addressed the mess back in May, promising a formal “conflict of interest” policy. “It is clear that relying on culture and individual judgment has not been sufficient,” she wrote, as the ETH world leaned in. But here’s the kicker – no update on that policy has hit yet, even after five months. Drake, though, ain’t waiting. Today he called for his own protocol: no more advisorships, no angel checks, no security councils. “This personal policy goes above and beyond the recent EF-wide conflict of interest policy,” he wrote.

Since the posts went up, EigenLayer’s token plummeted 10% in twenty-four hours, while Ethereum held firm with only a slight 1% dip, according to The Block’s Eigen Price Page.