EigenLayer, the prominent restaking protocol within the Ethereum landscape, recently unveiled exciting updates to its rewards program aimed at enhancing flexibility for both restakers and the protocols they support. This announcement was made in a blog post on December 6.
Enhanced Flexibility in Reward Distribution
With the new changes, third-party protocols leveraging EigenLayer—known as actively validated services (AVSs)—can now tailor their reward distributions based on the performance of validators. Furthermore, validators and operators are now empowered to set their own fee structures, a development highlighted in EigenLayer’s latest December update on the X platform.
These enhancements are designed to foster greater adaptability, efficiency, and customization within the EigenLayer ecosystem. Notably, these upgrades are slated for deployment on the mainnet starting January.
Growth and Innovations Since Inception
Since its inception in 2023, EigenLayer has successfully integrated numerous AVSs, accumulating nearly $19 billion in restaked collateral, according to DefiLlama. Restaking allows users to take advantage of tokens that are already staked as collateral with a validator, enabling them to earn rewards while simultaneously supporting additional protocols.
As it stands, 20 AVSs are actively functioning on EigenLayer’s mainnet, with many more projects in the pipeline. This includes EigenDA, an AVS operated by the EigenLayer development team, alongside ARPA Network, which specializes in secure randomization techniques.
EIGEN Token and Reward Programs
On October 1, EigenLayer launched its native token, EIGEN. This token aims to broaden the protective measures for protocols, covering a wider array of potential failures than the existing proof-of-stake tokens like Ether (ETH).
As of December 6, EIGEN trades at approximately $4.92, reflecting a fully diluted market capitalization close to $8.25 billion, as indicated by CoinMarketCap.
Previously, on September 17, EigenLayer kickstarted a programmatic incentives initiative to draw in more restakers. Under this scheme, EIGEN emissions allocated to restakers will amount to about 4% of the total token supply.
Sreeram Kannan, the founder of EigenLayer, shed light on how stakers will earn rewards based on the number of AVSs they engage with. He explained that these AVSs will directly compensate both stakers and operators. As AVSs allocate more funds, a corresponding increase in value distribution is expected.
Since launching the rewards program in September, the ARPA Network has faithfully distributed 14,000 native ARPA tokens weekly to restakers, contributing to the thriving rewards landscape within EigenLayer.
Source: Cointelegraph
