
The world of cryptocurrency is continuously evolving, and the most recent breakthrough comes from EigenLayer, an ingenious decentralized restaking protocol constructed on the foundations of Ethereum (ETH), a well-known open-source blockchain-based platform. EigenLayer’s recent declarations paint a promising future for the realms of the crypto ecosystem.
Top of the list of their exciting revelations is that they are unveiling their own native token – EIGEN. This unique currency will be disseminated by the newly established Eigen Foundation. This ambitious step was accompanied by EigenLayer’s rollout of a major airdrop strategy and the release of a detailed, brand new whitepaper.
The EIGEN token is more than just another cryptocurrency. The creators of this protocol aim to tackle the issue of “intersubjective” faults, which the existing ETH restaking system cannot solely address. This novel token, therefore, brings with it a unique mechanism that could offer a robust solution to these issues.
In expanding ETH restaking, EigenLayer has positioned the ETH token as the Universal Objective Work Token, a game-changer in the arena of digital currency. But what sets the EIGEN token apart is its universality. EIGEN is being introduced as the Universal Intersubjective Work Token, designed to fork and slash for intersubjective errors committed by EIGEN stakers in any Automated Verification System (AVS) within the protocol.
In a move designed to ensure the widespread adoption of EIGEN across applications, EigenLayer has strategically devised an application-independent mechanism to safeguard the cryptoeconomic security of the system.
The roles played by EIGEN staking and ETH restaking within the EigenLayer universe are complementary. While EIGEN focuses on safety properties through objective slashing, ETH restaking ensures properties such as liveness and censorship-resistance which hinge on stake decentralization.
In a monumental step for the protocol and the entire Ethereum ecosystem, the launch of EIGEN will introduce the groundbreaking concept of intersubjective staking. However, as this approach is a novel one, its successful deployment will hinge on widespread understanding, adoption and dialogue among various players in the crypto ecosystem.
According to released statistics, at launch, EIGEN will boast of a healthy total supply of 1.67 billion tokens. The Eigen Foundation intends to distribute 45% of these tokens to the community. This allotment will be divided further into staked drops, community initiatives, and efforts toward ecosystem development.
As for the distribution, approximately 30% of the tokens will be allotted to investors while early contributors will enjoy an allocation of about 25%. However, precautions have been set in place, with a three-year lockup period applied to these groups’ allocations to ensure stability.
The launch will see the enforcement of a complete lock during the first year. This will be followed by a gradual release of the total holdings at 4% per month over the next twenty-four months.
As an invitation for public engagement, EIGEN is taking off in a meta-setup phase. While this phase mirrors the complete protocol to only a limited extent, there are multiple parameters yet pending determination. This stage has been proposed as a bid to elicit the participation of researchers, experts, and the wider community in public discourse to ensure the eventual roundoff of the protocol and its interplay with the wider Ethereum ecosystem.
As the day closed, the total crypto market cap’s valuation stood impressively at $2.2 trillion, symbolizing another exciting chapter in the unfolding narrative of the cryptocurrency world.