Ethereum Researcher Dankrad Feist Departs to Join Tempo as Layer 1 Advisor

Ethereum researcher Dankrad Feist, one of the key architects behind the network’s scaling roadmap, has announced his departure from the Ethereum Foundation (EF) to join Tempo, a Layer 1 blockchain focused on payments.

Feist’s move signals a shift from pure research to real-world blockchain deployment, a decision that has sparked both curiosity and debate across the crypto community.

From Ethereum’s scaling lab to real-world payments

Feist, who joined the Ethereum Foundation in 2018 and became a full-time researcher a year later, played a major role in developing Danksharding and PeerDAS, technologies that underpin Ethereum’s upcoming Fusaka upgrade.

These advancements aim to significantly increase Ethereum’s data availability and throughput, effectively laying the groundwork for scaling the network without sacrificing decentralization.

In his announcement on X, Feist described the move as a natural next step:

“I’m excited to announce that I’ll be joining Tempo. The last year has been a turning point for crypto… I believe the real-world moment is now, and I want to make sure we don’t miss this window to touch people’s lives everywhere.”

Feist noted that he will remain a research advisor to Ethereum’s Scale L1, Scale Blobs, and Improve UX initiatives, a signal that his departure doesn’t sever ties with Ethereum’s core development.

Tempo’s vision and the community response

Tempo, incubated by Stripe and Paradigm, aims to streamline blockchain-based payments using open-source technology designed for high-speed, low-cost stablecoin transactions.

Backed by players like Visa and OpenAI, the project seeks to bridge blockchain infrastructure with mainstream financial systems, a mission Feist believes aligns closely with Ethereum’s values.

He emphasized that Tempo’s infrastructure could feed back into Ethereum, saying, “Tempo will be a great complement, built using similar technology and values, while being able to push boundaries on scale and speed.” However, Feist’s move hasn’t gone unnoticed by critics.

Prominent investor Ryan S. Adams called the development “not great for Ethereum,” arguing that losing key researchers to competing Layer 1s could fragment the community.

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