On October 17, 2025, Ethereum Foundation’s prominent researcher Dankrad Feist announced his departure from the foundation to join Tempo, a blockchain company jointly incubated by Paradigm and Stripe. The announcement, made via Twitter, quickly circulated throughout the cryptocurrency community, prompting a response from Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin, who acknowledged Feist’s significant contributions including Danksharding and consensus research. Feist’s career trajectory demonstrates a remarkable transformation from theoretical physics to blockchain innovation. He earned his PhD in theoretical physics from Cambridge University in 2013, specializing in Skyrmions—mathematical models describing atomic nucleus interactions. His initial casual interest in Bitcoin during 2013 gradually evolved into deeper engagement with blockchain technology’s mathematical foundations. Following his doctorate, Feist co-founded health technology company Cara Care in 2016 while continuing to explore cryptocurrency. His formal entry into blockchain began in 2018 with part-time work at the Ethereum Foundation, transitioning to full-time core researcher in 2019. Feist’s most notable contribution remains Danksharding, a sharding design named after him that focuses on improving Ethereum’s data availability through MPC-friendly custody proof protocols and novel sharding constructions. His EIP-9698 proposal in April 2025 outlined an ambitious plan to exponentially increase Ethereum’s gas limit by 100 times over four years, potentially enabling 2,000 transactions per second. Additional technical contributions include advancing stateless Ethereum through Verkle trees and significant work in zero-knowledge proofs, particularly KZG polynomial commitments and zk-SNARK optimizations that form the technical foundation for Layer 2 solutions like Optimism and Arbitrum. In his departure statement, Feist emphasized the timing for payment-focused blockchain applications, stating he believes “the moment to connect with the real world is now.” He will maintain an advisory role with the Ethereum Foundation while joining Tempo, which recently completed a $500 million Series A funding round at a $5 billion valuation. The move highlights ongoing compensation challenges within non-profit blockchain organizations. According to Protocol Guild data, median salaries for Ethereum core developers stand at $140,000, with only 37% receiving equity or token rewards—significantly below private sector compensation levels. Tempo represents a specialized blockchain optimized for payment scenarios, targeting over 100,000 transactions per second with sub-second confirmation times. The platform enables users to pay transaction fees directly with stablecoins and supports enterprise features including ISO 20022-compliant transaction memos and batch transfer capabilities. Feist’s career progression from fundamental research to practical application mirrors the broader blockchain industry’s evolution from conceptual validation toward large-scale implementation.
