Puffer is a decentralized native Liquid Restaking Protocol (nLRP) built on EigenLayer. It simplifies native restaking on EigenLayer, making it easier for anyone to participate as an Ethereum validator and earn rewards from Ethereum staking and EigenLayer AVSs restaking. In addition to boosting Ethereum’s scalability and security, Puffer also protects validators from slashing on a technological level. As of May 9, 2024, its mainnet is fully functional.
This article provides key insights into Puffer’s operation and architecture and describes Everstake’s role in its ecosystem.
How Does Puffer Work?
Puffer has its own token, pufETH, which users get in exchange for staked ETH, stETH, and wstETH. This token has the basic LST functionality of representing a stake and also accrues rewards for additional restaking activities, dramatically elevating the potential yields for its users.
Puffer is a permissionless ecosystem where anyone with 2 ETH can run a validator, significantly lowering the entry barrier compared to Ethereum. This open access, combined with Puffer’s anti-slashing technology (which can further reduce the collateral requirement to 1 ETH), makes it an attractive option for node operators.
All those factors probably explain why TVL in Puffer exceeded $1.7 billion at the time of writing. The project also received major financing from cryptocurrency industry leaders like Binance Labs, Brevan Howard Digital, Electric Capital, Coinbase Ventures, and others.
Other principal advantages of Puffer include an intuitive interface and a suite of detailed guides and support channels to help users in their restaking activities.
Operators in Puffer
There are two kinds of operators in Puffer: node operators (NoOps) and restaking node operators (ReOps), both of which are crucial to the ecosystem’s proper functioning and performance.
NoOps are central to Puffer. Their job is to run validators participating in Ethereum’s consensus that validate transactions and blocks. Notably, Puffer’s permissionless architecture makes the entry threshold for aspiring node operators much lower than it is in Ethereum: it takes less than 2 ETH to run a node in Puffer, which is noticeably cheaper than the 32 ETH required for ETH validators.
Node operators utilizing Puffer’s anti-slasher technology can further reduce the collateral requirement to 1 ETH. Additionally, Puffer’s anti-slashing technology mitigates risks for validators compared to those on Ethereum.
Restaking node operators have a different purpose: to maximize the yield of staked assets. Once NoOps have done their job, ReOps work in restaking strategies aimed at maximizing the resulting rewards. On top of the revenues brought about by PoS rewards, this creates a dual stream of yields, which constitutes one of Puffer’s biggest advantages compared to many other solutions in the same area.
Everstake and Puffer
Puffer’s architecture implies that the funds are not staked with a single operator but are evenly distributed among every one of them. This massively enhances the potential yields as rewards accrue every time any single operator earns a validator ticket (ERC-20 tokens minted by ETH deposits that grant the holder the right to run a staker-funded Ethereum validator for a day).
The resulting scheme creates incentives both for validators and stakers and, aside from generating additional yields, provides a new layer of resilience to the broader Ethereum ecosystem.
Everstake is happy to partner with Puffer as one of its Restaking Operators. We are confident that our extensive expertise in Ethereum validation, combined with Puffer’s novel approach to staking and restaking, can benefit all ETH community members.
Together, we can make the entire Ethereum ecosystem stronger and more attractive to broader audiences across the world.
