EigenLayer Faces Extensive Withdrawals: Total Value Locked May Plummet

According to Cointelegraph: Withdrawal Requests Surge in EigenLayer: Its TVL in Jeopardy EigenLayer, the largest Ethereum restaking protocol, has witnessed over 12,412 withdrawal requests in the wake of disappointment stemming from its scheduled EIGEN airdrop. Eigenlayer TVL. Source: Dune This surge of withdrawal requests began on April 29 when EigenLayer excluded several jurisdictions, including the United States, Canada, and various African and Asian countries, from their imminent EIGEN token airdrop. On April 29, EigenLayer reported over 4,336 daily withdrawals, which escalated to 6,496 by April 30, according to Dune data. With over 107,000 unique depositors as per Dune's data, this three-day withdrawal spree indicates that roughly 11.6% of unique depositors are exiting the protocol. Predictably, this withdrawal wave will impact the total value locked (TVL) adversely. Currently at $14.8 billion, EigenLayer's TVL is anticipated to drop to just over $13 billion, provided that the withdrawals are evenly distributed. However, as EigenLayer operates with a seven-day withdrawal processing period, the impact of this mass withdrawal won't surface until the coming weeks. Anndy Lian, an intergovernmental blockchain expert, expects the controversy about the EigenLayer airdrop, especially the omission of participants from key economic regions, to influence the protocol's TVL significantly. Meanwhile, Karak, a new restaking protocol, witnessed a 20.5% rise in its TVL to hit $439 million, branding it the second-largest Ethereum restaking protocol. With technical benefits in addition to more flexible restaking tokens, it's speculated that Karak might emerge as the next EigenLayer after the EIGEN airdrop fiasco.