According to Cointelegraph, the Eigen Foundation has announced its decision to allocate 1% of the EIGEN token supply to the Protocol Guild. This group consists of core developers who are responsible for maintaining the Ethereum layer-1 blockchain. The funds are intended to support the ongoing efforts of the Protocol Guild, which currently includes 180 members from 29 different teams.
EigenLayer, a restaking protocol on Ethereum, allows Staked Ether (stETH) and other assets to be repurposed and staked multiple times. This mechanism provides investors with additional yield opportunities while enabling other protocols to leverage Ethereum’s security. EigenLayer's role has made it a significant part of the Ethereum network’s infrastructure, garnering both praise and concern from the Ethereum community.
Restaking has been highlighted as a method to introduce fresh capital into the crypto space, with the potential to create a new asset class. It serves as an outsourced form of security for blockchain protocols and decentralized applications, allowing protocols to use restaked assets for network security. This approach reduces the need for protocols to launch their own tokens, thereby lowering the barrier to entry for developers and decentralized applications.
Data from DefiLlama indicates that restaking protocols currently hold approximately $26.9 billion in total value locked (TVL), with EigenLayer accounting for the majority at around $18.2 billion. The popularity of EigenLayer has propelled the EIGEN token into the top 100 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization in October. However, it has since fallen to rank 108.
In November, EigenLayer expanded its restaking options to include Wrapped Bitcoin products, allowing users to deposit uniBTC to the ARPA Network, a protocol built on EigenLayer, in exchange for a yield. December data from DefiLlama shows that the total value locked across the decentralized finance ecosystem is approaching the highs seen in 2021. This increase in total value locked is partly due to liquid restaking products and the growth of wrapped Bitcoin instruments.
