Intro to EigenLayer

What is EigenLayer?

EigenLayer is a protocol built on Ethereum that introduces restaking, a new primitive in cryptoeconomic security. This primitive enables the reuse of ETH on the consensus layer. Users that stake ETH natively or with a liquid staking token (LST) can opt-in to EigenLayer smart contracts to restake their ETH or LST and extend cryptoeconomic security to additional applications on the network to earn additional rewards.

Why Build with EigenLayer?

With EigenLayer, Ethereum stakers can help secure many services by restaking their staked ETH and opting-in to many services simultaneously, providing pooled security . Reusing ETH to provide security across many services reduces capital costs for a staker to participate and significantly increases the trust guarantees to individual services.

Anyone building a new decentralized service for Ethereum must bootstrap a new trust network to secure their system, fragmenting security. EigenLayer solves this problem by enabling any service, regardless of its composition (e.g. EVM-compatibility), to tap into the pooled security of Ethereum's stakers, creating an environment for permissionless innovation and free-market governance.

To learn more about EigenLayer please read the whitepaper or visit the Learn section of the EigenLayer website.