EigenLayer
The protocol that invented restaking — allowing staked ETH to simultaneously secure multiple services and earn additional yield.
Overview
EigenLayer is a restaking protocol built on Ethereum that allows users who have already staked ETH (either natively or through liquid staking tokens like stETH) to 'restake' those same assets to simultaneously secure additional decentralized services called Actively Validated Services (AVSs). Founded by Sreeram Kannan, a professor at the University of Washington, and launched in 2023, EigenLayer introduced the concept of restaking — one of the most significant innovations in Ethereum's ecosystem since The Merge. The protocol essentially extends Ethereum's security model to any middleware, oracle, bridge, or data availability layer that needs economic security.
The core insight behind EigenLayer is that Ethereum has massive economic security (tens of billions of dollars in staked ETH), but that security is only used to validate Ethereum transactions. Meanwhile, new protocols that need economic security must bootstrap their own validator sets from scratch — an expensive and difficult process. EigenLayer solves this by creating a marketplace where staked ETH can be used as security for multiple services simultaneously. AVSs built on EigenLayer include EigenDA (a data availability layer), oracle networks, keeper networks, bridges, and various middleware services.
The EIGEN token adds an additional dimension called intersubjective staking — it can be slashed for faults that are objectively identifiable by any reasonable observer but not automatically provable on-chain (like data withholding or censorship). This complements ETH restaking, which handles attributable faults. By 2026, EigenLayer has attracted over $15 billion in restaked assets and supports dozens of AVSs, making it one of the most important pieces of infrastructure in the Ethereum ecosystem. The protocol has fundamentally changed how new services think about bootstrapping security.
EigenLayer solves a fundamental bootstrapping problem in crypto: how do new decentralized services acquire economic security without spending billions to attract their own validators? By allowing Ethereum's existing staked capital to be reused across multiple services, EigenLayer dramatically reduces the cost and barrier to launching secured decentralized infrastructure. This has implications for every category of middleware — oracles, bridges, data availability layers, and sequencers can now launch with Ethereum-grade security from day one. The protocol also increases capital efficiency for ETH stakers, who can earn additional yield on assets that would otherwise generate only base staking rewards.
How It Works
The Basics
Users deposit staked ETH (natively or via liquid staking tokens like stETH, rETH, or cbETH) into EigenLayer smart contracts. They then delegate their restaked assets to operators — entities that run the validation software for various AVSs.
Pros & Cons
- Invented the restaking primitive — one of the most significant DeFi innovations since liquid staking
- Extends Ethereum's massive economic security to any decentralized service without bootstrapping new validator sets
- Increases capital efficiency for ETH stakers by enabling additional yield on already-staked assets
- Growing ecosystem of 30+ Actively Validated Services including data availability, oracles, and bridges
- Founded by a respected academic researcher with deep expertise in distributed systems and mechanism design
- Introduces systemic risk — a cascading slashing event across multiple AVSs could destabilize Ethereum staking
- Complex architecture with multiple layers of delegation and risk that is difficult for average users to evaluate
- EIGEN token's intersubjective slashing mechanism is novel and unproven at scale during market stress
- Operator centralization concerns as a few large operators control significant portions of restaked capital
- Yield expectations may be overinflated — actual AVS revenue may not justify the additional risk taken by restakers
Use Cases
- Restaking staked ETH or liquid staking tokens to earn additional yield from securing decentralized services
- Launching new decentralized services (AVSs) with Ethereum-grade economic security from day one without bootstrapping validators
- Using EigenDA as a cost-effective data availability layer for rollups instead of posting data directly to Ethereum
- Operating as a node operator running validation software for multiple AVSs to earn fees from restaked capital
- Building middleware infrastructure (oracles, bridges, keepers) that inherits Ethereum's security through restaking
Price Chart
Historical USD price from CoinGecko. Educational reference — not investment advice.
Live Market Data
- Market Cap Rank
- #211
- Market Cap
- $133.16M
- 24h Volume
- $12.86M
- Fully Diluted Val
- $328.87M
- All-Time High
- $5.65-96.82%December 2024
- All-Time Low
- $0.148314April 2026
- 24h Range
- $0.17649 – $0.184808
Market data from CoinGecko, refreshed every 15 minutes. Educational reference only — not investment advice.
Project Health
Dev activity via CoinGecko, TVL/audit status via DefiLlama; official links are the project’s own. Presence here is not an endorsement.
Next token unlock
A scheduled increase in circulating supply — an event to be aware of, not a price prediction. Larger unlocks relative to supply are simply larger supply changes. How unlocks work.
Full schedule & source: DefiLlamaWhere EIGEN trades
The most active markets for EIGEN by 24h volume. Informational only — these are not affiliate links or endorsements.
Data via CoinGecko. Always verify you are on an exchange’s official domain before trading.
Technical Details
- Consensus
- N/A (restaking protocol)
- Launch Year
- 2023
- Founder
- Sreeram Kannan
- Max Supply
- 1,670,000,000
- Blockchain
- Ethereum
- Website
- www.eigenlayer.xyz