• Ethereum developers discuss the Plectra upgrade in recent call.
• Following community backlash, the Ethereum Foundation was contemplating the introduction of a conflict of interest policy.

Ethereum [ETH] continued to see a surge in optimistic sentiment as prices remained above the $3700 level. Even though ETH’s price fluctuated significantly over the past new developments on the network were being made without any hindrances.

Developments continue

The Ethereum developers held a meeting to discuss a planned upgrade to the Ethereum Beacon Chain called Pectra. This upgrade is designed to improve the network’s functionality.

During the meeting, the developers debated what features to include in the upgrade and when to launch it. Some features, like EIP 7549 are confirmed for inclusion. Others, like EIP 7688 were still being considered.

A key topic of discussion was PeerDAS, a new technology that would significantly improve the network’s ability to handle data. While developers are excited about PeerDAS, they are worried that including it in Pectra might delay the upgrade.

To avoid this delay, they considered splitting Pectra into two parts, but this approach has drawbacks as well.

Ultimately, the developers decided to move forward with testing both the planned features for Pectra and PeerDAS together.

PeerDAS will be activated on test networks at a later time than the other features. They will decide on whether to include EIP 7688 in a future meeting.

Ethereum in middle of some drama

These developments and discussions occurred in the backdrop of a controversy that took place before the Ethereum foundation.

The controversy began on 18th May when prominent crypto trader Jordan Fish, known as Cobie, publicly questioned Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin about the ethics of EF developers receiving substantial financial incentives from projects built on the network.

Cobie’s tweet specifically cited EigenLayer as an example, sparking widespread discussion on social media about potential conflicts of interest.

Following Cobie’s tweet, Ethereum Foundation researcher Justin Drake disclosed his advisory role at EigenLayer on 19th May.

Drake revealed that he had received a significant incentive in Eigen tokens, estimated to be worth millions of dollars over a three-year vesting period.

This disclosure heightened concerns about transparency and potential conflicts of interest between EigenLayer and the Ethereum Foundation.

Drake also clarified that the information had been public since 3rd May, and the timing of the disclosure with Cobie’s tweet was coincidental.

On 21st May, another Ethereum Foundation researcher, Dankrad Feist, disclosed his advisory role at EigenLayer.

Feist, known for his work on danksharding, confirmed he had also received a significant allocation of EIGEN tokens and assured the community that his advisory role would not influence his positions on the development of EigenLayer.

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The Ethereum Foundation was considering implementing a formal conflict of interest policy following this community backlash. ETH remained relatively unaffected during this period.

At press time, ETH was trading at $3,788.47  and its price had grown by 0.56% in the last 24 hours.