Ethereum Foundation Extinguishes Controversy: Drafting "Conflict of Interest" Policy to Address Future Issues Similar to EigenLayer Dispute

The topic of whether core developers or researchers from the Ethereum Foundation should accept high remuneration from Ethereum ecosystem projects and serve as project advisors, potentially leading to conflicts of interest and harming the community’s interests, has recently sparked heated discussions in the crypto sphere.

This concern was raised by the well-known crypto KOL Cobie, who believes that Ethereum Foundation members holding dual roles might face conflicts of interest, especially if the projects they advise could have conflicting interests with Ethereum now or in the future. He cited the popular re-staking protocol EigenLayer as an example.

This week, previously vocal critics of EigenLayer, Ethereum Foundation core researcher Justin Drake and another researcher, Dankrad Feist, both announced they would serve as advisors to the EigenFoundation in a personal capacity. Both admitted they would receive substantial token rewards from EigenLayer.

Drake further disclosed that his advisory role would earn him EIGEN token rewards worth millions of dollars over three years, possibly exceeding the total value of all his crypto assets, primarily ETH.

Ethereum Foundation: Drafting Policies to Address Conflict of Interest Issues

However, the Ethereum Foundation stated it is expediting the creation of policies to address the community's concerns about potential conflicts of interest. Last night (24th), Ethereum Foundation Executive Director Aya Miyaguchi tweeted:

"The Ethereum Foundation's trusted neutrality is crucial to our role in the ecosystem. We are aware of the current discussions about potential conflicts of interest and understand the community's concerns.

Clearly, relying solely on culture and personal judgment is insufficient. We have been working on formal policies to address this issue for some time. We will accelerate this work and share updates soon."

Former Ethereum Developer: The Ethereum Foundation Should Provide "Adequate Compensation"

This statement seems to respond to Justin Drake's earlier remarks that the Ethereum Foundation members he knows adhere to "high ethical standards" and would not engage in unethical behavior, even if serving as advisors for external projects.

In his tweet, Drake also pledged to reinvest his incentive fees into Ethereum ecosystem projects or donate them, and to resign from his advisory role if the project moves in a direction detrimental to Ethereum.

As for whether EigenLayer is systematically buying out Ethereum Foundation members, Drake noted that to his knowledge, three Ethereum Foundation personnel have formal relationships with EigenLayer: one as an early investor and two as advisors to the EigenFoundation.

Responding to community doubts about the Ethereum Foundation members receiving high consulting fees and serving as external advisors, former Ethereum software engineer and founder of the crypto portfolio tracking tool Rotki, Lefteris Karapetsas, commented:

"The Ethereum Foundation should provide 'adequate compensation' to these developers or researchers so they don't need to seek additional compensation elsewhere."