EigenLayer is currently at the Stage 3 mainnet phase. The successful launches of stages 1, 2 and 3 laid the groundwork for a thriving ecosystem of restakers, operators, AVSs, and rollups.

The Stage 1 brought a new security primitive, restaking, to the community. That made a blast, sparking widespread community interest and enthusiasm in EigenLayer and restaking in general. The main goal for the stage 2 was to improve the user experience for restakers, operators, AVS developers, and rollup developers. Introduced functionality included:

• Delegation of the entire stake to an operator of their choice for restakers.
• Registration with EigenLayer and opting in to run AVSs for operators.
• Registration with the protocol for AVSs.

The Stage 3 introduced a powerful initial group of AVSs – AltLayer MACH restaked rollups with Xterio, Brevis Coprocessor, Eoracle Ethereum native oracle, Lagrange State Committee, Witness Chain DePIN Coordination Layer–, which then were broadened, to be secured by EigenLayer stakers and operators. Stage 3 empowers developers to unlock exciting new functionalities through a diverse range of AVSs. Find more about them here.

Restaking is the main functionality of the EigenLayer protocol. It enables users to reuse their staked ETH or ETH liquid staking tokens as yield-generating assets and to secure dApps and protocols.

Both native staked ETH and LST restaking, and delegation are available since April 2024. Learn more and find them all in our detailed guides (to view a guide for a specific token click on it from the list below): 

1. 1. Native restaking of staked ETH and delegation
2. 2. Liquid restaking and delegation:

• Lido stETH
• Swell swETH
• Mantle mETH
• Stader ETHx
• Binance wBETH
• Rocket Pool rETH
• Coinbase cbETH
• Frax sfrxETH
• StakeWise osETH
• Origin Ether oETH
• Liquid Collective lsETH
• Ankr ankrETH

In May 2024, after its introduction and Season 1 Stakedrop, EIGEN staking and delegation became available, filling a complementary role within EigenLayer staking system. Check out this guide to go through the steps of the staking and delegation flow.

In August 2024, Eigen Labs introduced Permissionless Token Support, an update to the EigenLayer protocol that enables any ERC-20 token to be permissionlessly added as a restakable asset, significantly broadening the scope of assets that can contribute to the security of decentralized networks, and unlocking the cryptoeconomic security of unlimited ERC-20 tokens on EigenLayer. This feature marked the next chapter in EigenLayer's journey, fostering a wide-open and dynamic staking landscape. To stake any other ERC-20 token follow the same steps as for EIGEN staking and delegation.

Restaked points are the measure of the user’s contribution to the shared security of the EigenLayer ecosystem. They directly correspond to the time-integrated amount of tokens staked and thus quantify the user’s involvement in staking.

Once AVSs became available and EigenLayer introduced Programmatic Incentives, these were removed from the protocol economy.

Yes, absolutely. Delegation is non-custodial, thus operators do not hold your stake.

The EigenLayer protocol does not guarantee the suitability of any operator to run AVS software properly, so it's crucial to exercise caution and select operators for delegation with absolute confidence. 

To make an informed decision when delegating, users should keep in mind some important information.

• Not every registered operator has passed the minimum threshold to become a EigenDA operator.
• Not every registered operator is running the operator for all available AVS.
• Not all operators are in the active set (eg, operators with less than 320 ETH restaked aren’t active within EigenDA).
• Operators with no registered AVSs are also inactive. You can check this in the operator’s profile.

Everstake supports all available AVSs for your delegation.

Everstake is a node operator that performs validation tasks for the EigenLayer AVSs ecosystem. We are servicing AltLayer MACH, Automata Multi-Prover AVS, Brevis coChain AVS, EigenDA, eoracle, Hyperlane AVS, Lagrange State Committees, Lagrange ZK Prover Network, Omni Network, OpenLayer, Predicate, UniFi AVS, Witness Chain, Xterio Mach, Cyber MACH, GM Network MACH and DODOchain MACH (all 4 powered by AltLayer). This selection was a result of deep research and modelling on AVSs main parameters by our R&D department, including risk level assessment and economic sustainability. This comprehensive evaluation aims to ensure that the selected AVSs meet the reliability, security, and performance criteria to fulfil our staker's interests.

Everstake professionalism, experience, and track record of reliable operation allowed us to become one of only 30 genesis participants during the EigenDA testnet launch on Goerli, one of the first to join Holešky testnet and mainnet.

You can always redelegate from one operator to another at any time, but will have to wait seven days escrow period to complete the redelegation.

Undelegation flows are the same for both native and LST restakers, and can be found below. Initiating undelegation will automatically queue a withdrawal, but not complete it:

• If you want to redeposit, you can do so after the escrow period ends.
• If you want to complete the withdrawal, you can do that once the escrow period ends.

Here is a step-by-step guide how to undelegate from your operator:

1. Navigate to the Operator tab, click the tile for the operator you have delegated your tokens to. Click the Undelegate button to continue.

2. Confirm the two transactions in your wallet.

3. Observe that your restaked balances are now 0 and click Redeposit button, which will appear below, to select Everstake as a new operator.

Actively Validated Services (AVS) are EigenLayer-powered applications that require extended slashing capabilities in case the operators running software on their behalf misbehave. Those can vary from simplistic dApps to nearly full-scale L1 blockchain protocols. Staked tokens ensure the economic security of each AVS.

Obtaining AVS rewards is a new but not complicated process. Follow our step-by-step guide to unlock your rewards from securing AVSs on EigenLayer.

EigenDA is a decentralized data availability (DA) service with high throughput and enhanced security. Built on top of Ethereum, it leverages the EigenLayer restaking primitive. EigenDA will be the first actively validated service (AVS) to launch on EigenLayer. The purpose of DA services is to verify that all blockchain nodes can access trusted block data.

The EIGEN token represents a new coordination mechanism that accelerates EigenLayer and Ethereum toward a shared mission of maximizing open innovation. It is designed to empower the EigenLayer ecosystem, offering a complementary role to ETH restaking.

EIGEN introduces a mechanism to handle "intersubjective" faults, or behaviors that are not identifiable onchain but warrant a penalty. With this mechanism, EIGEN provides a way for the token to be forked without forking the Ethereum mainnet consensus.

For more information read the whitepaper explaining EIGEN's unique design enabling intersubjective slashing. Or you can find a short summary here.

Currently EIGEN is non-transferable and non-tradeable, aiming to cultivate social consensus and resilience around its novel staking and forking features. This allows time for further product development and decentralization with community feedback. It also allows the community time to build a shared understanding of the novel EIGEN design.

Thus the only way to obtain it — via the Eigen Foundation stakedrops. Season 1 of the EIGEN token retroactively allocated 6.75%, or 113 million, of the initial EIGEN supply to restakers based on a snapshot taken on March 15, 2024 (claiming period closed on September 7, 2024).

On September 4, 2024 the Eigen Foundation announced the EIGEN Season 2 Stakedrop. Tokens will be distributed to stakers, operators, ecosystem partners (AVSs, LRTs, Rollups, RaaS providers, and other key contributors to EigenLayer), and the community (early advocates, contributors, and projects that have supported EigenLayer from its inception) based on a snapshot from August 15, 2024. During Season 2 approximately 87 million EIGEN tokens should be allocated for Season 2, representing around 5.2% of the initial EIGEN supply.

Check your eligibility for Season 2 at claims.eigenfoundation.org. Please note that the claim is open until  March 16, 2025.

Total amount of EIGEN planned to be distributed during future stakedrop seasons is 3% of the initial supply and will be focused on further programs for the community. Stay tuned at eigenfoundation.org or via their official X page.

Yes! Staking EIGEN allows you to secure AVSs on EigenLayer, complementing ETH and LSTs restaking. Currently, you can stake EIGEN to secure EigenDA only. Soon, you'll have even more AVS options to choose from.

On top of earning fees from AVSs, your staked EIGEN will be considered in future stakedrop seasons.

In our guide, we will walk you through the steps of staking and delegating EIGEN tokens on EigenLayer.

Programmatic Incentives V1 are weekly programmatic rewards of EIGEN tokens minted by the protocol, that are linearly distributed proportionally to the delegated stake. The goal of this design is to incentivize AVSs to begin distributing rewards to stakers and operators early, in order to benefit from and obtain a larger share of the early EIGEN programmatic incentives, as well as support stakers and operators with EIGEN.

Re/stake and delegate with Everstake! To receive Programmatic Incentives V1, a staker must delegate to an operator that is registered to at least one AVS that provides rewards. Currently, rewards are available only from EigenDA and ARPA Network, and Everstake is proud to support both of them, as this allows us to boost incentives for our delegators—the more AVS distribute rewards, the more EIGEN you will receive as part of this incentivization, because this programmatic incentives weredesigned for AVS “reward-boosts”, meaning EIGEN will be automatically distributed to stakers of each AVS proportionate to the amount of rewards distributed by each AVS.

Programmatic incentives employs the same claiming process ( in the same place and in the same way ) that is now available for AVSs rewards claiming.

Check our step-by-step guide to receive your EIGEN incentives.

https://app.eigenlayer.xyz/

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