Support and dissatisfaction - how participants view the EigenLayer airdrop plan

Author: David C, Bankless; Translator: Baishui, Golden Finance

In today’s dull markets, EigenLayer’s announcement of its new EIGEN token has certainly caused a stir, though not quite in the way many had hoped.

As crypto Twitter digested the latest news, market sentiment seemed very mixed, leaning more toward the downside, while the price of Ethereum did not seem to be affected by the day’s developments.

At 1pm EST, the EigenLayer team released the EIGEN white paper, which features a number of unique design features such as a “work token model” and “inter-subject forks.”Many in the EigenLayer community were impressed by the token’s planned role in the protocol, congratulating the team on Twitter and explaining the nuances of EIGEN.

However, not all feedback was enthusiastic, with many discontents related to the initial non-transferability of the token, its anti-VPN claims process, and the rewards, or lack thereof, allocated to the protocol for earning points.

DeFi protocols such as Pendle, which are known for driving participation in EigenLayer, found themselves excluded from the first round of airdrops. This decision caused a lot of resistance online, as the opportunities provided by these protocols brought a lot of deposits to EigenLayer.

In addition, there are many frustrations in the venture capital-centric EIGEN distribution. With the immediate redemption activation, many EigenLayer regular users said they felt they were at a disadvantage.

Overall, the plans for the first EIGEN launch on May 10th seem to have caused a lot of dissatisfaction in the space. However, given the attention paid to cryptocurrencies, this sentiment could quickly turn when their prices start to rise or tokens become transferable.

Meanwhile, the most noteworthy thing in today’s announcement is the innovation surrounding the EIGEN token design. Click here to learn more about Bankless: A look at EigenLayer’s announced airdrop plan.