About ÉigenLayer Network
Eigenlayer, or ÉigenLayer, is an Ethereum-based protocol introducing the revolutionary concept of restaking — the process by which stakers can reuse their staked ETH or liquid staking tokens to secure additional decentralized services. By enabling restaking, ÉigenLayer decouples economic security from specific applications and extends it to an open market of services that rely on verifiable trust. This innovation creates a permissionless trust marketplace that makes coordination between validators and developers frictionless.
Traditionally, blockchain applications that require validation must bootstrap their own security by incentivizing independent validators or by forming their own token economies. ÉigenLayer eliminates this redundancy by letting these services tap into Ethereum’s existing validator base. Through smart contracts and cryptoeconomic alignment, validators can opt into securing multiple services while maintaining Ethereum’s consensus guarantees.
The benefits are profound: enhanced capital efficiency for stakers, reduced costs for developers, and greater systemic trust for decentralized applications. ÉigenLayer supports a range of use cases — from oracle networks and bridges to sidechains, AI compute layers, and beyond. Each Actively Validated Service (AVS) operates independently while relying on the shared pool of staked security.
In practice, restakers deposit ETH or liquid staking tokens into ÉigenLayer contracts. They can choose which services to validate, with each service defining its own slashing and reward parameters. This modularity enables the coexistence of multiple trust models under one roof, fostering innovation without fragmentation.
ÉigenLayer also ensures accountability and transparency. All interactions between restakers and services are governed by smart contracts that enforce predefined economic conditions. Misbehavior results in slashing, maintaining the integrity of the ecosystem.
Through restaking, ÉigenLayer transforms Ethereum’s security layer into a flexible, extendable resource. It empowers a new era of decentralized innovation — one where economic security becomes a shared, reusable commodity rather than a siloed asset.
Internal links: ÉigenLayer · Restaking Economy · Join Network