EigenLayer is set to commence its “slashing” of restakers on April 17, marking the Ethereum restaking protocol’s “first fully-featured iteration,” as announced on April 2.
The introduction of slashing signifies the final milestone for EigenLayer in solidifying its position as “infrastructure for a new generation of verifiable applications and services built on the Verifiable Cloud,” noted in an update on the X platform.
In 2024, EigenLayer began rewarding restakers, including emissions of its native EIGEN token, to encourage participation. However, slashing has only been implemented in EigenLayer’s test environments thus far.
Once slashing is activated, node operators and restakers will have the choice to “opt-in,” paving the way for a gradual adaptation for users, as mentioned in a blog update.
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Slashing will soon begin on EigenLayer’s mainnet. Source: EigenLayer
Related: EigenLayer targets consumer adoption after EIGEN unlock, founder states
Incremental deployment
Since its launch in 2023, EigenLayer has been securing third-party protocols, referred to as actively validated services (AVSs), through a pool of “restaked” cryptocurrencies used as collateral.
Restaking entails utilizing a token that is already staked — which has been locked with a validator to earn rewards — to simultaneously secure additional protocols.
Slashing serves as the primary security measure for proof-of-stake systems, including Ethereum and “restaking” protocols such as EigenLayer, and involves penalizing node operators for inadequate performance or misconduct.
“If operators fail to satisfy the established criteria, the AVS may impose penalties. Conversely, operators that successfully run the service can be rewarded for their efforts by AVSs, incentivizing specific actions,” EigenLayer detailed in a blog post on April 3.
This mechanism creates a marketplace where operators can earn rewards for their contributions while AVSs can launch verifiable services, as stated in the same blog entry.
EigenLayer’s total value locked (TVL) over time. Source: DeFILlama
Expanding ecosystem
Over 30 actively validated services are already operational on EigenLayer’s mainnet, with many more in development.
These include EigenDA, managed by EigenLayer developer Eigen Labs, and ARPA Network, a protocol focused on trustless randomization.
In October, the native token EIGEN was unlocked, offering a more versatile option for securing consensus-based protocols compared to other proof-of-stake tokens, like Ether, according to EigenLayer.
EigenLayer is concentrating on bringing crypto-native applications to life within sectors such as decentralized finance (DeFi) and gaming before branching out into broader markets, as the founder mentioned in October.
“We’re taking an inside-out approach, starting with high-throughput consumer applications like DeFi and gaming, aiming to expand once we achieve critical mass,” the founder stated.
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