Ethereum restaking protocol EigenLayer has unlocked its native token EIGEN, which means it can now be traded, transferred and staked.
The token had a bullish debut, trading at $4.32 which corresponds to a fully diluted value of $7.2 billion, according to data from CoinMarketCap. Around 43% of trading volume took place on the EIGEN/USDT pair on Binance, which listed the token at the time of the unlock at 5:00 am UTC on Oct. 1.
The unlocking event also means that developers can build Actively Validated Services (AVSs) using EIGEN staking. The protocol plans to introduce programmatic incentives for those who actively participate and support AVS.
“The last ecosystem map I saw had 60+ AVS building on top of Eigenlayer,” said Aylo, the pseudonymous founder of Alpha Please, on X.
“I think the ‘AWS for decentralized services’ will command a higher valuation than the pre-market is giving it currently.”
EigenLayer conducted its airdrop in two phases: Season 1 distributed 113 million EIGEN tokens to restakers, while Season 2 allocated 86 million EIGEN tokens primarily to node operators and stakers who engaged with the protocol.
Activity in EigenLayer peaked in June, when the protocol had just shy of $20 billion in Total Value Locked (TVL), according to data from DeFiLlama. Since then, TVL has dropped to around $12 billion.
While the drop in TVL can be attributed in some part to stakers withdrawing funds after qualifying for an airdrop, the protocol saw significant outflows after a controversial report around its airdrop policy.
CoinDesk reported that Eigen Labs, the company behind EigenLayer, circulated a list of its employees’ wallet addresses to ecosystem projects that were preparing to airdrop tokens.
EigenLayer addressed the claims in a blog post, saying the protocol had “no knowledge or evidence of any employee at Eigen Labs pressuring any team to unduly benefit.”
