Debate Arises Over ‘Conflicted Incentives’ as Ethereum Developer Accepts Compensation for EigenLayer Responsibilities

The decision of an Ethereum Foundation researcher to accept a paid advisory role for EigenFoundation has received criticism on social media. Some commentators have expressed concerns about potential conflicts of interest. In a detailed post on May 19, the Ethereum researcher, Justin Drake, revealed that he had taken on an advisory role at EigenFoundation, which includes a significant incentive in the form of EIGEN tokens. The tokens will be vested over three years and are worth millions of dollars, surpassing the combined value of all of Drake’s other assets.
EigenLayer is a protocol that recently launched partially on the Ethereum mainnet. It enables users to stake liquid staked Ether (ETH) tokens, which are derivative tokens for ETH staked in a protocol like Lido. This effectively allows ETH to be staked twice.
Drake clarified that he accepted the role with the condition that he would focus on researching restaking risks. He stated that his default stance would remain critical of EigenLayer, but acknowledged the potential downside risks that come with the position. Drake expressed his intention to have a close view of restaking issues and guide EigenLayer from within. He admitted that he felt he had not done enough in the past regarding liquid staking and saw this as an opportunity to avoid repeating that mistake with restaking.
A day before Drake’s announcement, Jordan Fish, a crypto trader and co-host of UpOnly, questioned Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin about his thoughts on Ethereum Foundation staff accepting substantial financial packages from projects that might have conflicting incentives with Ethereum. Fish used EigenLayer as a hypothetical example.
While some expressed criticism, others, including Hudson Jameson, the vice president of governance at Polygon, David Wong, co-founder of zkSecurity, and Robbie Nakarmi, the director of crypto investments at Standard Chartered Ventures, commended Drake for his transparency.
In his post, Drake aimed to address claims that EigenLayer was attempting to bribe or corrupt the Ethereum Foundation. He emphasized that the Ethereum Foundation is a large organization and only a small percentage of its members have formal relationships with EigenLayer entities. Drake stated that he did not believe those individuals would compromise their morals and that he was prepared to end his advisory role if EigenLayer pursued a direction contrary to Ethereum’s interests.
Earlier in May, EigenLayer faced backlash from users who criticized its program for being too restrictive. In response, the company airdropped an additional 28 million EIGEN tokens to users.