EigenLayer’s TVL Hits $20 Billion Mark Amidst Ether Price Surge

EigenLayer’s TVL Hits $20 Billion Mark Amidst Ether Price Surge

The total value locked (TVL) in the restaking protocol EigenLayer has soared to $20.09 billion, making it the second-largest DeFi protocol, just behind Lido. Data from The Block indicates that since the beginning of the year, EigenLayer’s TVL has skyrocketed from $1.4 billion to $20 billion, equivalent to 5.21 million ether.

In early March, EigenLayer’s TVL was at 2.93 million ether, valued at $10 billion. This recent surge in TVL can be attributed to an increase in inflows and a rise in ether prices.

EigenLayer is a pioneering restaking protocol that allows users to deposit ether and various liquid staking tokens to help secure third-party networks. The protocol’s mainnet launched in April.

Following the rollout of its token distribution plan, the protocol saw a significant rise in deposits. However, there was a brief period of substantial outflows due to community backlash over the low individual airdrop allocations, likely due to the linear distribution model, and the non-transferability of the tokens.

To address these concerns, the Eigen Foundation later increased the airdrop allocations for all users and clarified the timeline for token unlocks and their transferability. This alleviated community concerns and led to increased inflows. Notably, on May 31, the platform saw a significant spike in inflows, with over half a billion dollars in deposits, as reported by The Block’s daily net flows data.

The Eigen Foundation has allocated 15% of its 1.6 billion token supply for user distribution over several stakedrop seasons, with 5% already distributed as of March 2024. The protocol is currently in its second stakedrop season.

EigenLayer employs a shared security model, enabling third-party applications, known as actively validated services, to join the platform and secure themselves using a collective pool of re-staked ether.