How to Natively Restake and Delegate ETH on EigenLayer: a Step-by-Step Guide

EigenLayer is an Ethereum-based protocol that brought about restaking—a concept enabling one to use their staked ETH in numerous networks and protocols at the same time. It also increases security for protocols and introduces additional rewards for stakers. 

With its recent Stage 2 mainnet launch, users can restake and delegate their liquid staking tokens (LSTs) and staked ETH with operators for Actively Validated Services (AVSs). This way, users can receive multiple rewards in addition to the rewards for staking the original ETH (this functionality is expected to become available in Q3 2024). 

EigenLayer currently supports restaking for 12 different Liquid Staking Tokens (LSTs). The good news? All of them can be delegated to Everstake for maximized returns. You can find dedicated how-to guides for all of them via this link.

This guide covers the native restaking and delegation options provided by EigenLayer. This means that it concerns no other token than ETH itself rather than LSTs.

What Is Native Restaking on EigenLayer?

Native restaking and delegation of ETH staked on the Ethereum network requires one to run an Ethereum validator node and have an active validator status, which takes preliminary preparation. This also incorporates changing your Ethereum validator’s withdrawal credentials to those of EigenLayer’s smart contracts. 

This guide covers the creation of EigenPod, a user-managed smart contract facilitating the monitoring, balance management, and withdrawal statuses for EigenLayer, ETH restaking, and delegation. There are several preconditions one should keep in mind when preparing to launch an EigenPod.

1. You may repoint any number of validators to a single EigenPod.
2. An Ethereum address can only deploy a single EigenPod.
3. The address that deploys an EigenPod becomes the owner of the contract and gains permission for restaking and withdrawal operations.
4. Ownership of an EigenPod cannot be transferred.

One can restake their ETH both with their pre-existing validator or prior to launching (or integrating) a new one. In case you decide to deploy a new one, you must initially provide the withdrawal credentials either to your EigenPod address or to an 0x00 address (this can be changed to your EigenPod address later).

How to Natively Restake and Delegate ETH on EigenLayer

There are several essential steps to natively restaking and delegating your restaked ETH on EigenLayer.

• In the EigenLayer app, connect your wallet. Currently, you can choose from MetaMask, Coinbase Wallet, OKX Wallet, and Wallet Connect. Make sure you are connected to the Ethereum mainnet.

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• Review the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. To accept them, click Sign and accept the transaction in your wallet.

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• Once connected, you’ll see a dashboard with your restaked and delegated ETH or LSTs. Go to the Restake tab in order to create your EigenPod.

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• At the Restake tab, you will be offered several choices, including liquid staking tokens and native restaking of staked ETH. 

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• Now create your EigenPod. To do that, click the Create EigenPod button next to Beacon Ether.

Review the warning and hit Create EigenPod again. 

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Your wallet will be opened and you need to sign a transaction confirming your EigenPod creation. It will require gas fees.

• After transaction approval, please wait a bit while the transaction is executed and your EigenPod is created.

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• If everything is alright, you’ll receive a confirmation. To see your EigenPod address, click on Beacon Ether.
• On the right you will see the address that will be associated with all your restaking and withdrawal activities from your EigenPod thereafter.

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• Use EigenLayer’s detailed instructions to set your validator withdrawal credentials. You can do that with ethdo CLI, consensus client withdrawal credential repointing, or solutions like dAppNode or Avado.

Note that native restaking deposit and withdrawal transactions incur additional gas fees due to the required proof verification, which is generated off-chain and then verified on-chain. The fee is about 200k gas (roughly 0.0002 ETH) plus a fixed commission of around 0.01 ETH per proof. Be sure to have sufficient funds to cover those expenses.

• Afterward, you will be able to restake your ETH balance with EigenLayer, which you will see in the Awaiting Restake section. Now, click Restake from the Beacon Ether page. 

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• The app will fetch Beacon Chain proofs and validate them on-chain, which may take some time. Once ready, confirm the transaction in your Web3 wallet.

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• Your Beacon Chain Restaked and Total Restaked balances will increase accordingly. 

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• Go to the Operator tab in the top section of the screen, where you can find a selection of operators available for delegation.

We’ll use Everstake for the purposes of this example. To delegate, write “Everstake” in the search bar or go directly to our profile on EigenLayer.

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• Click Manage as the image above suggests and then hit Delegate in the right-hand section. 

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• As the final step, approve and sign the transaction in the wallet you connected. Afterward, you will be able to keep track of your stake from the dashboard.

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Why Delegate to Everstake

Thanks to our impressive track record as a multi-chain validator, Everstake was among the first 30 operators hand-picked for EigenDA, the first AVS on EigenLayer, on the Goerli testnet and among the first on the Holešky testnet. Everstake has had zero slashing events on Ethereum, developed the first non-custodial non-liquid pooling solution for Ethereum, and created numerous infrastructural services for other blockchains like Solana and Cosmos. 

Certified as a Verified Operator by StakingRewards, Everstake services over 735 thousand users across 70+ blockchains, offering industry-grade security, reliability, and support. By choosing Everstake, you can be assured that you’re getting access to top-notch services run by seasoned professionals, all for some of the best conditions on the crypto market today.

Final Thoughts

With increased yields available as of Q3 2024, restaking and delegation have already sparked much interest and enthusiasm within the broader crypto community. Enhanced liquidity, capital efficiency, and security make EigenLayer a very attractive strategy for project creators as well.