SUMMARY
- EigenLayer has revealed its season 2 “stakedrop,” with plans to distribute 86 million EIGEN tokens to stakeholders.
EigenLayer has announced the second season of its “stakedrop,” distributing 86 million EIGEN tokens to stakeholders, including stakers, node administrators, ecosystem partners, and community individuals. The distribution, set to start by September 17, 2024, targets participants active between March 15 and August 15. This takes after the launch of the platform’s native token and its first stakedrop earlier this year, stamping another major step in EigenLayer’s development. Stakeholders can claim their tokens starting September 17, offering a considerable reward for their involvement.
EigenLayer permits users to deposit and stake ether from different liquid staking tokens, aiming to utilize those resources to secure third-party networks and actively validated services (AVSs). Of the 86 million EIGEN tokens, 70 million are designated to stakers and active administrators amid the Season 2 period. The allocation is based on the participant’s share of ETH staked, giving solid motivations for continued participation in the network. Up to 10 million tokens are reserved for AVSs, rollups, and other key supporters to the EigenLayer environment, whereas 6 million will go to community members, including early advocates and open-source contributors. To claim tokens, community members must verify their social identity by connecting their wallet addresses to their social handles on the Eigen Foundation’s verification site by September 11.
The stakedrop comes at a time when EigenLayer has seen a decline in its total value locked (TVL), dropping from a high of $20.1 billion in June to $11.5 billion in recent months. Comparable trends are being watched across the liquid restaking sector, with platforms like Renzo, Puffer, Kelp, and Swell all announcing noteworthy decreases in TVL. The decrease may be due in part to the conclusion of airdrop campaigns, such as those from Renzo’s REZ and EigenLayer’s EIGEN, which at first pulled in significant capital.
Despite these challenges, EigenLayer remains a key player in the space, with a total token supply of 1.67 billion EIGEN tokens. Despite not however tradable, pre-markets like Hyperliquid value each token at around $2.7, giving the protocol a completely diluted valuation of roughly $4.5 billion. The stakedrop might help reinforce engagement and reestablish a few of the lost TVL, even as competitors like Symbiotic—still without a token—are seeing their TVL grow, coming to $1.5 billion since its June launch.
As EigenLayer continues to create its platform and reward partners, the crypto community will be observing to see if this stakedrop can reinvigorate participation and drive encourage development in the restaking sector. With its driven token distribution and a sizable share of the market, EigenLayer is situating itself as a noteworthy force in the evolving crypto scene