Justin Drake and Dankrad Feist Step Down From EigenLayer Advisory Roles to Focus on Ethereum Base Layer

Two high-profile Ethereum researchers, Justin Drake and Dankrad Feist, have stepped down from their advisory roles at EigenLayer, a restaking platform.

Two high-profile Ethereum researchers have stepped down from their advisory roles at EigenLayer, a restaking platform, to focus entirely on the Ethereum base layer.

Justin Drake and Dankrad Feist announced their departures on X on Friday. Drake had already left the position in September but made his exit public today.

“I want to apologize to the Ethereum community and EF [Ethereum Foundation] colleagues for the drama I caused,” Drake said, admitting the advisory role was a “bad move.”

Feist added that while EigenLayer remains a valuable project, Ethereum demands his full attention.

The news comes after it was revealed in May that both researchers were advising EigenLayer, which ranks among the top three DeFi projects on Ethereum by Total Value Locked (TVL), according to DefiLlama.

EigenLayer's success had caused concerns about the impartiality of Ethereum's core contributors, especially given the hefty compensation packages for advisors.

Drake's contract reportedly included “millions of dollars of tokens vesting over three years.”

The public backlash prompted Ethereum Foundation Executive Director Aya Miyaguchi to promise a conflict-of-interest policy.

“It is clear that relying on culture and individual judgment has not been sufficient, and we have been working on a formal policy to address this problem for a while now,” Miyaguchi said in a May post on X.

She indicated that the policy would be fast-tracked to prevent similar issues.

While a formal policy has yet to materialize, Drake hinted at changes in his own approach.

He said he would avoid future advisorships, investments and participation in security councils, adding: “This personal policy goes above and beyond the recent EF-wide conflict of interest policy… because I want to signal commitment to neutrality.”

EigenLayer has also been making headlines for its Season 2 “stakedrop” campaign, which will see a massive airdrop of 86 million EIGEN tokens, around 5.1% of its total supply.

The airdrop will be allocated as follows:

EigenLayer captured the airdrop snapshot on August 15, with claims opening on September 17.

However, the platform has faced several security issues. In October, an unauthorized sale of 1.67 million EIGEN tokens, valued at roughly $3.3 each, was detected.

The sale raised immediate questions as it appeared to violate EigenLayer's lockup policy, which prohibits current and former employees from selling or staking tokens before September 2025.

The wallet used in the sale was linked to EigenLayer's Gnosis Safe, adding to the concerns about internal controls.

This incident prompted EigenLayer to reexamine its security measures and address weak points in its compliance protocols.

On October 18, another security breach occurred, leading to the theft of approximately $5.7 million from the platform.

An attacker used address spoofing to impersonate an investor and bypass security protocols, enabling them to siphon funds.

EigenLayer has since been reviewing and tightening its security protocols to prevent future breaches.

The token unlocked on October 1, quickly跻身于市值排名前 100 的加密货币。EIGEN 的完全稀释估值飙升至 72 亿美元左右，代币价格约为 3.59 美元。

但未经授权的销售和黑客事件让市场变得焦躁不安。价格波动和不确定性主导着交易，这主要是由于人们对平台内部安全性和治理结构的质疑。