TL;DR
- EigenLayer opens claims for Phase 2 of the first season of its airdrop.
- Users can claim tokens until September 7.
- EigenLayer will face competition in the restaking sector with the launch of Symbiotic.
EigenLayer, the innovative restaking protocol on Ethereum, has launched the second phase of claims for its airdrop, marking the end of the first season.
Users who engaged with liquid restaking token (LRT) protocols like Kelp, Pendle, and Equilibrium before March 15 can claim their tokens until September 7.
1/ We’re excited to announce that Phase 2 claims are now open! (Season 2 is coming)
Phase 2 marks the completion of Season 1, nearly 113 million EIGEN are now distributed.
Get started: https://t.co/ZjZJPW9JR4 pic.twitter.com/uGT7GDJdyY
— Eigen Foundation (@eigenfoundation) June 19, 2024
Token allocation was determined by the LRT protocols, based on users interactions with EigenLayer.
The Eigen Foundation assured that extensive analysis was carried out to detect possible sybil attacks before finalizing Phase 2 assignments.
Claims for Phase 1 of the Eigen stakedrop are also still active.
Currently, EigenLayer is the second largest DeFi protocol by total value locked (TVL), at $19 billion.
The protocol allows users to earn additional returns on top of Ethereum staking rewards, delegating staked assets to simultaneously secure third-party validated services (AVS), while continuing to validate Ethereum.
Despite some criticism from the community about the initial airdrop terms, such as lack of token transferability and VPN restrictions, EigenLayer responded by increasing the allocation for smaller users.
Each of the over 280,000 eligible wallets received an additional 100 EIGEN tokens, meaning 6.7% of the token supply was distributed to early adopters.
Claims for these tokens went live on May 11, and the tokens are expected to be unlocked around September.
EigenLayer continues to support the DeFi ecosystem with its “universal intersubjective work” token, EIGEN, which incentivizes honest behavior and penalizes malicious actions.
The project is currently running the second season of its points campaign and will soon announce the details of the token distribution for this season.
EigenLayer Competencies in the Resttaking Sector
Competition in the restaking sector has intensified, especially with the launch of Symbiotic, a rival protocol on Ethereum, on June 11.
Symbiotic has quickly gained support from Mellow, an LRT provider, and Lido , the leading liquid staking and DeFi protocol for TVL.
This development marks a significant change in the “restaking wars”, with Symbiotic quickly reaching a TVL ceiling of $245 million shortly after its launch.
Additionally, Ethena, the project behind the USDe stablecoin, has announced plans to leverage Symbiotic in creating its own native restaking ecosystem starting June 26.
Half of the airdropped ENA tokens will need to be used for restaking on Symbiotic, staking on ENA, or deposits on Pendle, underscoring the growing competition in the restaking space.
EigenLayer, with its strong market position and recent updates to its airdrop processes, is looking to maintain its leadership as new platforms like Symbiotic and Ethena try to capture some of the market.
With the launch of the second season and upcoming details on token distribution, the Ethereum restaking space is presented as a rapidly evolving and highly competitive field.
