Dankrad Feist, a seasoned Ethereum developer and researcher at the Ethereum Foundation, announced on Friday that he is joining Tempo, a layer-1 blockchain for payments and stablecoins developed by Stripe and Paradigm.
Feist stated he will continue as a “research adviser” at the Ethereum Foundation, providing guidance on scaling the layer-1 network, enhancing user experience (UX), and blobs—an Ethereum feature that temporarily stores data to free up blockspace. He remarked:
“Tempo’s open-source technology can seamlessly reintegrate into Ethereum, benefiting the entire ecosystem. Ethereum and Tempo share a strong alignment, as both are built on the same permissionless ideals.”
“I am eager to stay engaged with the community and continue advancing Ethereum,” he stated. Cointelegraph attempted to contact Feist but did not receive a response by publication time.
The announcement elicited mixed reactions from the Ethereum community, with some sending supportive messages and others viewing it as a loss of one of the ecosystem’s key contributors amid a year of significant changes.
Related: Ethereum Foundation converts 1,000 ETH for stablecoins to fund R&D, grants
Crypto community divided on Stripe’s Tempo blockchain
The crypto community also remains split on the Tempo blockchain and whether a dedicated payments-focused, stablecoin blockchain network is truly necessary.
“No one wants another chain,” Joe Petrich, head of engineering at non-fungible token (NFT) platform Courtyard, mentioned in response to Stripe CEO Patrick Collison’s Tempo announcement, asserting that there is “no need for yet another chain.”
Ethereum Foundation researcher Devansh Mehta also questioned the choice to launch Tempo as a distinct blockchain rather than as an Ethereum layer-2 scaling network.
App-specific layer-1 chains, which must develop their own validator set, often face centralization challenges and could be subjected to increased legal liability, Mehta stated.
This debate arises during a period of tension between Ethereum and its various layer-2 scaling solutions, which some argue are cannibalizing Ethereum’s base layer revenue and applying downward pressure on Ether’s (ETH) price, even as they increase user traffic to the ecosystem.
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