An August 14 announcement from Eigen Labs revealed that the company would introduce Permissionless Token Support on EigenLayer. The feature will enable Actively Validated Services (AVSs) on EigenLayer to add ERC-20 tokens as restakable assets in a permissionless way.
In the announcement, the EigenLayer developer explained that the feature was still on the testnet for a permissioned testing phase. EigenDA will be the first AVS to test the feature before it goes live.
Eigen Labs also revealed that the feature would deploy on the mainnet in the coming week as a protocol-layer update. The EigenLayer developer confirmed that it would also introduce the user interface support for restakers later in this year’s Q3. EigenLayer is one of the largest projects to launch this year. The protocol and its AVS, EigenDA, launched on Ethereum’s mainnet on April 9, and users deposited around $15 billion ahead of EigenLayer’s launch.
The new feature can improve AVSs’ crypto-economic security
Coming Soon: Permissionless Token Support
What
Eigen Labs is proud to introduce Permissionless Token Support, an upcoming update, to the EigenLayer protocol. This feature will enable any ERC-20 token to be added as a restakable asset, significantly broadening the scope of… pic.twitter.com/zvN30f9Ipc
— EigenLayer (@eigenlayer) August 14, 2024
The Eigen team disclosed that the Permissionless Token Support would broaden the scope of assets AVSs can utilize for crypto-economic security. The feature would also unlock the crypto-economic security of multiple assets on the protocol. These assets can be AVS-native tokens, BTC-denominated coins, and stablecoins.
The announcement further explained that using native tokens for security will give them new utility. After the feature’s introduction, native tokens will gain more security functionality. AVS protocols can also use the tokens to reward users and operators. As a bonus, AVSs can further customize their security profiles.
EigenLayer expanded on how the protocol would achieve ERC-20 tokens restaking on its ecosystem. The AVSs can reportedly create new Strategies using a factory contract for any ERC-20 token. Strategies are the smart contracts on the Eigen protocol that determine what tokens restakers and operators can restake.
According to EigenLayer, the AVSs can then place the tokens in quorums to utilize them for cryptoeconomic security. The AVSs can also use the contracts to distribute tasks to operators.
EigenLayer and Fhenix work to improve Ethereum’s privacy and security
EigenLayer collaborated with Fhenix on April 2 to improve Ethereum’s security and privacy. The two companies plan to contribute funds to develop fully homomorphic encryption (FHE) coprocessors. According to the two firms, the processors will improve Ethereum’s on-chain computational efficiency. Fhenix affirmed that the FHE coprocessors can process more encrypted data without decrypting it.
Fhenix believes that multiple industries can take advantage of FHE coprocessors’ benefits. The company explained that developers can create vast applications in different fields without worrying about exposure to sensitive data.
EigenLayer confirmed that it will solve the delays caused by Fhenix’s optimistic rollup architecture. According to the announcement, the partnership will allow Fhenix to leverage Eigenlayer’s crypto-economic security structure to improve Ethereum’s security.