EigenLayer and EigenDA officially launched, opening token delegation to users

EigenLayer and EigenDA officially went live yesterday. Token stakers can now delegate their ETH or LST tokens to node operators, who can then start helping to secure EigenDA. With this, most of EigenLayer's product architecture has been completed.

Background: What is EigenLayer

Product Positioning

EigenLayer is an infrastructure that extends Ethereum security to other networks. By depositing ETH or LST such as stETH into contracts, validators provide security for node operators who can choose to join various decentralized networks to enhance security and earn rewards, eventually sharing Ethereum security with new decentralized projects, also known as Active Validation Services (AVS).

For more details, please refer to the dedicated article.

EigenLayer Development Roadmap

EigenLayer's product is not fully developed and will follow a three-stage roadmap:

• Stage 1: Attract stakers, where the team provides staking services without rewards, mainly attracting stakers for potential airdrop opportunities.
• Stage 2: Attract AVS node operators. In this stage, EigenDA will be activated as the first AVS to attract capable node operators to join the ecosystem.
• Stage 3: Attract more Active Validation Service providers (AVS) to officially serve projects and enhance security.

The team has mostly completed Stage 2 work, with EigenLayer Mainnet officially launched, activating EigenDA as the first AVS to attract node operators.

EigenLayer Mainnet Launch

Open Node Operator Registration

Node operators can register on EigenLayer, with over a hundred operators already registered. Operators can choose to run AVS, with EigenDA being the only AVS available currently.

Open Token Staker Delegation

Token stakers can delegate their tokens to selected node operators. Each staker address can only delegate to one operator, and the delegation is all-or-nothing, meaning stakers must delegate 100% of their tokens without the option to delegate only a portion.

If users stake tokens through the LRT project, the project will have control over staking management, with user rights subject to project policies. For example, Ether.fi autonomously decided to collaborate with Omni Network, with the former agreeing to be an operator for the latter.

Ether.fi pledged to be an Active Validation Service provider for Omni Network in the future.

It is expected that node operators will soon offer rewards or incentives to attract more tokens.

Open AVS Registration

Teams wanting to launch AVS for decentralized network projects can now apply for registration with EigenLayer. While only EigenDA is currently operational, the team has registered decentralized network projects such as AltLayer, Near, Espresso, Omni, and Hyperlane.

Features Not Yet Introduced

According to the team, two features have not been launched with the EigenLayer Mainnet:

• Protocol-level reward payment feature: The ability for AVS to reward node operators using EigenLayer contract mechanisms is not available.
• Punishment mechanism: There is currently no punishment mechanism in place, with plans to introduce it in the second half of this year once the EigenLayer market stabilizes.