The Trust
Layer for
Everything.

EigenLayer is a protocol built on top of Ethereum that introduces restaking — the ability to reuse staked ETH or LSTs to provide cryptoeconomic security to additional protocols called Actively Validated Services, without duplicating cost or complexity of bootstrapping a new validator set.

Restaking allows ETH stakers to opt into EigenLayer smart contracts and extend their staked ETH's cryptoeconomic security to one or more AVSs simultaneously. In exchange, restakers earn additional yield from AVS reward payments on top of their standard Ethereum staking rewards.

AVSs are any systems requiring distributed validation — data availability layers, decentralized sequencers, oracle networks, cross-chain bridges, keeper networks, and threshold cryptography schemes. By building on EigenLayer, AVSs inherit Ethereum's cryptoeconomic security without bootstrapping their own validator set or economic security budget.

Native restaking requires running an Ethereum validator and pointing its withdrawal credentials to an EigenLayer EigenPod smart contract. LST restaking allows holders of liquid staking tokens (stETH, rETH, cbETH, etc.) to deposit them directly into EigenLayer's strategy contracts without running a validator. Both earn additional AVS rewards.

EIGEN is EigenLayer's native utility and governance token — a universal intersubjective work token. Unlike ETH restaking which handles objectively verifiable faults, EIGEN enables slashing for intersubjective faults (attributable but not objectively verifiable on-chain). EIGEN stakers earn protocol rewards and hold governance voting rights.

EigenDA is the flagship Actively Validated Service built natively on EigenLayer. It provides high-throughput data availability for Ethereum rollups, achieving 10MB/s throughput at approximately 10× lower cost than Ethereum blobspace. It is operated by EigenLayer operators and secured by restaked ETH on mainnet.

Operators are entities that register on EigenLayer, accept delegations of restaked ETH from stakers, and run AVS software on their behalf. They earn fees from the AVSs they service and share rewards with their delegating restakers. Operators must maintain high uptime, security, and correctness standards to avoid slashing.

EigenLayer smart contracts have been audited by multiple independent security firms. Slashing risk exists if your delegated Operator behaves maliciously or fails to meet AVS conditions. Restakers should carefully evaluate Operators. EigenLayer enforces a 7-day withdrawal delay as a security mechanism allowing time to detect and process slashing events.

Restakers earn standard Ethereum staking yield plus additional AVS reward payments distributed by their Operator. These AVS rewards can be paid in any ERC-20 token — ETH, USDC, or native AVS tokens. Multiple AVSs stack reward streams without requiring additional capital deployment.

EigenLayer supports 15+ LSTs including stETH (Lido), rETH (Rocket Pool), cbETH (Coinbase), wBETH (Binance), osETH (StakeWise), swETH (Swell), ankrETH, and others. Native ETH restaking is supported through EigenPod validator withdrawal credential delegation. New LSTs are added via governance.

EigenLayer enforces a 7-day withdrawal escrow period for restaked assets. This security delay ensures slashing conditions can be properly evaluated and enforced before funds are released. This delay is in addition to Ethereum's own validator unstaking queue, which is typically 1–5 days depending on the validator exit queue.

Full protocol documentation, smart contract addresses, audit reports, the EigenLayer whitepaper, and AVS developer guides are available at docs.eigenlayer.xyz. Research papers, ecosystem announcements, and governance updates are published on the EigenLayer blog and research forum at eigenlayer.mirror.xyz.