EigenLayer (EIGEN)

How EIGEN works

EIGEN sits in the restaking layer built on top of Ethereum staking. Capital that is already securing Ethereum is opted in to secure additional services — oracles, bridges, data-availability layers and other actively validated services — and earns a second stream of rewards for doing so.

That extra yield is paid for with extra risk, and this is the part most summaries skip. Restaked capital is subject to the slashing conditions of every service it secures, not just Ethereum's. Those conditions are set by the services themselves, and they are newer, less battle-tested and more varied than Ethereum's own. Correlated slashing across several services at once is the tail risk the whole design has to price.

How EIGEN accrues value

• Two income streams stack: base Ethereum staking rewards, plus fees paid by the services the capital is restaked to secure.
• Early rewards are often paid in the service's own token rather than ETH, so headline yields depend on a token price that may not hold.
• Points and airdrop programmes have driven much of the deposit growth in this sector — that is a marketing spend, not a durable yield.
• Withdrawal timing is set by the slowest commitment, so exiting can take materially longer than plain staking.

Key risks for EIGEN holders

• Slashing conditions from every service the capital secures, not only Ethereum's.
• Correlated failure, where one bug or one operator affects many services at once.
• Reward tokens that may be worth materially less than the yield figure implied at deposit.
• Long or uncertain withdrawal windows set by the slowest commitment.
• Smart contract risk — a bug or exploit in the issuing contracts can cause permanent loss, and audits reduce that risk without eliminating it.
• Market risk — crypto assets are volatile and can fall sharply and quickly.