EigenLayer Enhances Restaking Protocol For Better User Experience

According to Cointelegraph, Eigen Labs, the developer behind EigenLayer, has deployed a significant update to its restaking protocol aimed at enhancing the ease and rewards of native Ether (ETH) restaking. The update, announced in a blog post on September 4, focuses on improving the performance of EigenPods, which are EigenLayer’s restaking smart contracts for ETH staked on Ethereum’s Beacon Chain. This upgrade allows users greater flexibility in harvesting or reinvesting staking rewards. Eigen Labs stated that EigenPod users can now complete a checkpoint to restake their Beacon Chain ETH rewards on top of their existing EigenPod balance. Beacon Chain rewards are automatically restaked back into EigenLayer, enabling restakers to earn additional rewards. The update also aims to improve EigenLayer’s user interface, making it more user-friendly. Restaking involves taking a token that has already been staked and using it to secure other protocols simultaneously. EigenLayer currently commands approximately $11.5 billion in total value locked (TVL), according to DefiLlama. The platform supports a growing number of actively validated services (AVS) — protocols secured using EigenLayer’s restaked ETH. The largest EigenLayer AVSs include EigenDA, Lagrange State Committees, and the ARPA network. EigenDA, EigenLayer’s data availability protocol, was the first AVS launched on EigenLayer and remains the largest. It is secured by around 3.5 million restaked ETH contributed by more than 123,000 restakers. In August, EigenDA began supporting native token restaking for layer-2 scaling networks, in addition to ETH and EigenLayer’s native EIGEN token. Teams can now restake their ERC-20 tokens to secure a custom quorum for their rollup, enhancing security for rollup users and providing token yield for token holders. Restaking is expected to become mainstream, but yields are still speculative and risks remain uncertain. Mike Silagadze, CEO of liquid restaking protocol Ether.fi, commented on August 13 that the long-term viability of restaking networks depends on acquiring customers who are willing to pay for the services these networks provide. Despite the uncertainties, Silagadze believes that the adoption of restaking is inevitable.