Recently, EigenLayer revealed its presence on the Ethereum mainnet, marking a significant development in the Ethereum ecosystem. One of the main ways to participate in EigenLayer is to contribute to the security of Ethereum and increase interest in staking activities. Staking on Ethereum is gaining considerable momentum, especially with the growing popularity of re-staking methods, as discussed in recent discussions.
In a notable update, EigenLayer debuted on Ethereum mainnet, introducing the EigenDA data availability layer. Prominent operators such as Coinbase Cloud and Google Cloud have joined as early participants in the protocol. Additionally, EigenLayer revealed six of his actively validated services that benefit from the re-staking mechanism, strengthening his position within the ecosystem.
With this release, re-stakers on the platform will be able to earn additional revenue from their staked ETH, a feature that was not previously available. Many users initially deposited ETH into the protocol expecting higher yields and speculated on the possibility of an airdrop when EigenLayer allocated re-staking points.
To access EigenLayer, you need to stake ETH by setting up a validator or leveraging the Liquid Staking protocol to obtain staking derivative tokens. Liquid Staking Tokens (LST) provide liquidity to their holders and can be acquired by depositing into the specified protocol or by purchasing directly.
The proliferation of new validators highlights the growing interest in contributing to Ethereum’s security through EigenLayer. In particular, Ethereum moved to Proof-of-Stake in September 2022 with The Merge, allowing individuals to operate validators on its Beaconchain in parallel with the mainnet. With the Shapella upgrade in April 2023, staking gained significant traction, introducing the ability to withdraw staked ETH and increasing user confidence in the safety of their funds.
At its peak in June 2023, the validator queue reached 96,000, requiring measures to maintain network stability. However, the number of people queuing gradually subsided, and from October 2023 to March of the following year, there were fewer than 10,000 people. With renewed interest in restaking, the validator's entry queue has grown to 20,000 entries, reflecting strong demand to power the Ethereum network.
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