EigenLayer Explained: Restaking, AVS, and EIGEN Token (2026)

TL;DR

• EigenLayer is the Ethereum-native restaking protocol that lets stakers re-pledge ETH and LSTs to secure Actively Validated Services (AVSs). Founded by Sreeram Kannan at the University of Washington and built by Eigen Labs, it peaked above US$20B TVL in May 2024 during the points-farming era.
• The EIGEN token launched 30 September 2024 (mainnet activation) with airdrops opening 1 October 2024. EIGEN's role is to backstop "intersubjective" attacks under the Programmable Trust framework. Slashing went live in April 2025, completing the protocol's transition from bootstrap to active security.
• The AVS catalogue spans data availability (EigenDA), interoperability (Hyperlane, Omni Network), ZK (Lagrange, Brevis, Aligned Layer), oracles (eOracle), proof of location (Witness Chain), derivatives (Lyra v2 / Derive), and dozens more.
• Liquid Restaking Tokens (LRTs) turn the position into a tradable ERC-20: ether.fi weETH (largest), Renzo ezETH, Kelp rsETH, Puffer pzETH, Bedrock uniETH, Swell rswETH and Mantle cmETH. Symbiotic and Karak are the main alternative restaking frameworks. On Solana, Solayer, Jito Restaking (Aug 2024) and Cambrian extend the design.

Table of contents

• What is EigenLayer?
• What is restaking — and why now
• How EigenLayer works under the hood
• Programmable Trust and the EIGEN token
• The AVS catalogue: securing what?
• Liquid Restaking Tokens (LRTs)
• Symbiotic, Karak, and the alt-restaking ecosystem
• Solana restaking: Solayer, Jito Restaking, Cambrian
• Risks: slashing, depeg, point-farming exhaustion
• AVS revenue and sustainability
• Comparison table: top LRTs
• How to restake step-by-step
• Research and reports
• FAQ
• Glossary
• Related reading
• Sources and further reading

What is EigenLayer?

EigenLayer is the Ethereum-native restaking protocol — a smart-contract platform that lets ETH stakers and LST holders re-pledge their already-staked capital as cryptoeconomic security for additional, opt-in services. The protocol was conceived by Sreeram Kannan, a tenured professor at the University of Washington's Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, who founded Eigen Labs in 2021 to commercialise the idea. The thesis was simple but powerful: Ethereum had aggregated tens of billions of dollars of staked security; that same capital could backstop the consensus and authentication needs of an entire constellation of middleware — bridges, data-availability layers, oracles, ZK provers, decentralized sequencers — without each one having to bootstrap its own validator set and token economy.

EigenLayer's Stage 2 mainnet launch opened the protocol to LST deposits in 2023; the AVS marketplace went live in April 2024; the points-farming era of 2024 drove TVL above US$20B in May 2024, briefly making it one of the largest DeFi protocols ever. The EIGEN token activated 30 September 2024, the airdrop opened 1 October 2024, and EigenLayer slashing went live in April 2025 — the moment restaking transitioned from a points scheme to live cryptoeconomic security. As of April 2026 EigenLayer remains the largest restaking protocol by TVL despite outflows from the post-airdrop unwind, and the Eigen Labs team has expanded into EigenCloud — a generalized verifiable-compute platform that uses restaking as the trust anchor for off-chain workloads, including the EigenCloud launch in 2025.

What is restaking — and why now

Restaking is the practice of using already-staked ETH (whether validated natively or via an LST) as economic collateral for additional services beyond Ethereum consensus. The same dollar of stake secures Ethereum's base layer and one or more AVSs simultaneously, and is subject to slashing for misbehavior on any of them.

The motivation is twofold. From the AVS side, building a credibly-secure middleware in 2024-2026 is expensive: a project needs a validator set, a token, a marketing campaign, exchange listings, and years to accumulate sufficient staking value to deter attacks. Restaking lets a new AVS rent that security from Ethereum stakers in return for fees, denominated in ETH or the AVS's own token — a marketplace primitive. From the staker side, the same ETH that earns 3-3.5% from base validation now also earns AVS fees, often denominated in the AVS's token, layered on top — typically 0.5-3% additional APR depending on the AVS mix and points programme.

The "why now" is the convergence of three factors: (a) Ethereum's staked-supply ratio passed a threshold of credible security (>20% staked, >25 million ETH), (b) the modular blockchain thesis exploded post-Celestia 2023 and required dozens of trust-minimized middleware components, and (c) the LST ecosystem provided the ergonomic on-ramp — users could restake their existing wstETH or weETH without touching native validator infrastructure.

The 2024 paper How much should you pay for restaking security? formalized the supply-and-demand mechanics: AVS budget vs. staker bond required. Subsequent work — Robust Restaking Networks, Elastic Restaking Networks, and The Cost of Secure Restaking vs. Proof-of-Stake — explored the economic security parameters in detail. The 2025 paper On Sybil-proofness in Restaking Networks addressed operator-side attacks on the marketplace. Collectively the academic literature has matured restaking from a hand-wavy slogan into a well-modelled subfield.

How EigenLayer works under the hood

EigenLayer's architecture decomposes into three roles:

1. Restakers — ETH holders who deposit ETH (native restaking) or LSTs (LST restaking) into the EigenLayer Strategy contracts. Native restaking requires running a validator with EigenLayer-pointed withdrawal credentials. LST restaking is the easy path — wrap stETH, cbETH, mETH, OETH, ankrETH and others into the LST strategy.
2. Operators — entities that run the AVS validation software on behalf of restakers. A restaker delegates their position to one or more operators; the operator runs the AVS-specific node software (e.g., the EigenDA dispersal node, the Lagrange ZK prover, the Hyperlane validator) and earns fees, sharing them with delegators.
3. AVSs — the services consuming security. An AVS registers a SlashingRegistry contract that defines its slashing conditions, opts in operators (via a Strategy/Quorum), and pays rewards. The AVS's protocol logic lives off-chain or on its own L2/appchain; EigenLayer is the security marketplace.

When an AVS slashes an operator, the slashing percentage applies to all of that operator's delegated stake. The 2025 slashing rollout introduced operator-set parameterization: the same operator can run multiple AVSs with different slashing configurations, and restakers can opt out of high-risk AVSs. The newer Programmable Trust framework (described below) adds intersubjective slashing — slashing for offenses that cannot be cryptographically proven on-chain but are socially verifiable.

The flagship operator vendor list includes Coinbase Cloud, P2P, Kiln, Figment, Stakefish, Allnodes, Galaxy, Nethermind, Pier Two, Hashkey, Restake.work, Luganodes, A41 and dozens more. As of April 2026 the active operator set numbers over 200 entities running 20+ live AVSs.

Programmable Trust and the EIGEN token

The EIGEN token is the most novel part of EigenLayer's economic design. Activated on 30 September 2024 with airdrop unlocks beginning 1 October 2024, EIGEN is the protocol token — but it is also the first major slashable governance token in production.

Eigen Labs's whitepaper introduced Programmable Trust, which categorizes AVS faults into three tiers:

• Objectively attributable faults — provable on-chain (e.g., signing two conflicting attestations). Slash the operator's ETH/LST stake.
• Intersubjectively attributable faults — provable off-chain to any honest observer (e.g., publishing invalid data on EigenDA). Slash operator EIGEN holdings.
• Subjectively attributable faults — unprovable, dependent on social consensus (e.g., censoring transactions). Resolve via EIGEN forking — a UMA-style escalation game where rival forks of the EIGEN token compete for social legitimacy.

The mechanism is bold: EIGEN is intended to be forkable, with the canonical fork chosen by the social consensus of token holders, similar to how Ethereum forks have historically resolved disputes. The Programmable Trust whitepaper has been the most-discussed cryptoeconomic design of 2024-2025; in practice the forking mechanism has not yet been triggered.

EIGEN's circulating supply unlocks gradually through 2025-2027. The total supply of 1.67 billion includes allocations to Eigen Labs, investors (a16z, Polychain, Blockchain Capital, Coinbase Ventures, Hack VC), the foundation, and community/airdrop. Stakedrop programmes target restakers and AVS operators specifically, aligning incentives with active participation rather than speculation.

The AVS catalogue: securing what?

The AVS marketplace as of April 2026 includes 20+ live AVSs and dozens more in testnet. The major categories:

Data availability

• EigenDA — the Eigen Labs-built data availability layer, the flagship AVS and largest by operator count. Used by AltLayer, Mantle, Celo (during its L2 transition), Hashflow, and several appchain rollups for cheap blob settlement.

Interoperability and bridging

• Hyperlane — permissionless interchain messaging; offers EigenLayer-secured Validator-as-a-Service via Interchain Security Modules (ISMs).
• Omni Network — Ethereum-rollup interop layer. The OMNI token launched 2024.
• Lagrange — ZK state committees for cross-chain state proofs (Lagrange State Committees) plus the Lagrange ZK Coprocessor for off-chain database queries provable on-chain.

Oracles and data

• eOracle — restaking-secured oracle network used by perps protocols and lending markets.
• Witness Chain — proof-of-location and watchtower service.
• Brevis — ZK coprocessor (Brevis Coprocessor) for verifiable historical-state queries.

ZK proof aggregation and verification

• Aligned Layer — proof aggregation and verification marketplace. Aligned's Verification Layer commoditizes ZK-proof posting cost.
• zkLink AVS — multi-chain ZK aggregation.

Sequencers, rollup services, derivatives

• AltLayer — restaked rollup-as-a-service for app-specific rollups. AltLayer was an early flagship AVS adopter.
• Lyra v2 / Derive — onchain options protocol that uses restaking as part of its risk infrastructure. The 2025 Lyra rebrands to Derive marked the protocol's pivot to a derivatives-centric brand.
• Skate, Cyber, automata, Espresso Systems — additional sequencer/rollup AVSs.

The full live + testnet AVS list also includes Predicate, Drosera, Othentic, Bolt, MachZK, OpenLayer, Ungate, Nuffle, Layr Labs, Connext, EigenAgent, Drosera, Predicate, Open Oracle, RedStone (testing), Espresso, Cycle Network, Polyhedra, Nimbora and dozens more. The EigenLayer protocol UI and dashboards like EigenPhi (also marketed as the EigenPhi product) track real-time AVS revenue and operator distribution.

The 2025-2026 EigenCloud launch extended the AVS programming model to general off-chain compute — verifiable cloud workloads where the security comes from restaked ETH. EigenCloud is positioned as the long-tail destination for AVSs that don't want to build bespoke node software.

Liquid Restaking Tokens (LRTs)

LRTs do for restaking what LSTs did for staking: they wrap a restaked position into a tradable ERC-20, abstract the operator-and-AVS selection, and plug into DeFi as collateral. The market is dominated by a half-dozen issuers:

ether.fi — eETH and weETH (largest LRT)

ether.fi, governed by the ether.fi DAO, is the largest LRT issuer in 2026. ether.fi runs native restaking — users keep custody of their validator keys via the ether.fi node-runner platform, while delegating restaking decisions to the protocol's operator set. eETH is the rebase-style LRT; weETH is the wrapped, reward-bearing form used in DeFi. ether.fi's TVL has remained the largest LRT since the early-2024 inflection, peaking near US$10B during the ether.fi airdrop and stabilizing at US$5-7B post-unlock.

Renzo — ezETH

Renzo Protocol, governed by Renzo DAO, issues ezETH — a reward-bearing LRT covering both EigenLayer and Symbiotic restaking. Renzo's April 2024 ezETH depeg was the LRT category's first major stress event, when secondary-market price dislocated 5-10% during a confused token-launch and points-farming exit. Renzo recovered, and ezETH remains a top-three LRT; the depeg drove DeFi protocols to require deeper liquidity reserves before listing LRTs as collateral.

Kelp DAO — rsETH

Kelp DAO issues rsETH, an LRT specializing in distributing across multiple LST collateral types. The Kelp Earn yield product layers DeFi strategies on top. The protocol suffered a major LayerZero bridge exploit in early 2026 that lost approximately US$293M and triggered a multi-week DeFi-wide cascade affecting Aave (over US$200M in bad debt) and SparkLend (which absorbed over US$1B in deposit migration). The post-mortem revealed that the LayerZero post-mortem traced the attack to the Lazarus Group via an RPC node compromise, reigniting debates over RPC and oracle decentralization in cross-chain LRT systems. Aave subsequently led a DeFi United relief fund to restore rsETH backing; Arbitrum recovered $71M of the stolen ETH by freezing the bridge contract.

Puffer Finance — pufETH and pzETH

Puffer Finance, governed by the Puffer Finance protocol, is the LRT specialist for Pectra-era native restaking. Puffer pioneered anti-slasher technology — pre-execution validation that prevents an operator from accidentally double-signing — and offers pzETH, a Symbiotic-restaked variant. Puffer's UniFi AVS targets pre-confirmations for L2 rollups, a high-value use case for restaking security.

Bedrock — uniETH and uniBTC

Bedrock, built by RockX / Bedrock, issues uniETH on Ethereum and uniBTC — a Bitcoin-restaking LRT that bridges BTC into EigenLayer security via a wrapped representation. uniBTC bridges into Babylon's BTC-native staking system through interoperability with Symbiotic and Karak.

Swell — rswETH and Swellchain

Swell issues rswETH (the EigenLayer-restaking variant of swETH) and operates Swellchain, an Optimism Superchain L2 secured directly by restaked ETH via EigenDA. Swell's vertical integration — LST → LRT → L2 — is a unique architectural experiment.

Mantle — mETH+ and cmETH

Mantle Restaking extends Mantle's mETH LST into restaking via cmETH (combined mETH), which restakes mETH through both EigenLayer and Symbiotic.

Eigenpie

Eigenpie is the Magpie ecosystem's LRT, supporting individual LST→LRT wrappers (mstETH, mswETH, etc.) for users who want to stay specific to one base LST.

Symbiotic, Karak, and the alt-restaking ecosystem

EigenLayer is the largest restaking protocol but not the only one. The two principal alternatives:

Symbiotic

Symbiotic, backed by Paradigm and Cyber Fund, launched in 2024 with no native token at issuance and a modular, permissionless approach: any project can define its own collateral assets, slashing logic, operator set, and token-economic model. Where EigenLayer is opinionated about Ethereum LSTs and the Eigen Labs operator set, Symbiotic lets Lido's stETH (and any ERC-20) be a collateral; Lido CSM operators were early Symbiotic adopters. Symbiotic has been adopted as a security marketplace by L1s including Cosmos Hub, Hyperliquid (for parts of its insurance fund), and several modular rollup teams. The architectural bet is that restaking will fragment across many networks and Symbiotic will be the neutral coordination layer.

Karak Network

Karak Network, built by Karak (a sister entity of Andalusia Labs), is a multi-asset restaking protocol. Where EigenLayer accepts ETH and ETH-LSTs, Karak accepts ETH, LSTs, LRTs, BTC, USDC, USDT, USDe, and even Pendle PT positions as restaked collateral. The Karak Vaults host Distributed Secure Services (DSSes) — Karak's term for AVS-equivalents. Karak's chain K2 is an EVM L2 designed for restaking-secured rollups.

Other restaking layers

• Babylon — Bitcoin-native restaking using BTC's UTXO timestamping and slashable PoS-style commitments. Babylon is restaking-adjacent rather than EigenLayer-style; it secures Cosmos chains and other appchains.
• PICS / Octopus / Allora — appchain-specific restaking variants.
• Jambo, Pell Network — early-stage multi-asset restaking experiments.

The aggregate restaking market across all protocols sits at US$25-35B TVL in April 2026, with EigenLayer ~60%, Symbiotic ~15%, Karak ~10%, Babylon ~10%, and the remainder in newer entrants.

Solana restaking: Solayer, Jito Restaking, Cambrian

Solana restaking emerged in 2024 alongside the Ethereum ecosystem:

• Solayer is the Solana-native restaking protocol with Solayer Restaking accepting SOL and Solana LSTs (JitoSOL, mSOL, bSOL, plus Sanctum validator LSTs) as restaked collateral for Solana AVSs and "Endogenous AVSs" — Solana sub-protocols that need extra security.
• Jito Restaking, launched August 2024 by the Jito Foundation, extended the Jito MEV ecosystem into a restaking layer; it integrates with the JitoSOL flywheel, paying restaking fees to JitoSOL holders.
• Cambrian focuses on Solana validator-level restaking and oracle middleware.
• Symbiotic Solana extends the Symbiotic framework to Solana collateral.

The Solana restaking market is smaller than Ethereum's (~US$1-2B TVL combined as of 2026) but growing as the Solana DeFi ecosystem matures.

Risks: slashing, depeg, point-farming exhaustion

Restaking compounds the risks of staking with several new ones:

1. Slashing risk. AVS misbehavior slashes the underlying ETH stake. The first live slashing event is likely to be highly correlated with operator infrastructure failures — and because operators typically run multiple AVSs, a single bad operator could trigger slashing across several AVSs simultaneously.
2. LRT depeg risk. LRTs have less liquid secondary markets than LSTs. The April 2024 ezETH depeg is the canonical example. Major LRT issuers have since invested in deeper Curve and Balancer liquidity to dampen swings, but tail risk remains. The 2026 Kelp DAO LayerZero exploit demonstrated that bridge attacks on LRT cross-chain deployments can cascade into the broader LRT market and trigger contagion in DeFi lending markets.
3. Smart contract risk. EigenLayer, the LRT, and any DeFi integration are all attack surfaces. An exploit at any layer wipes the user's position — and because restaking is recursively integrated, a single bug can propagate through dozens of protocols.
4. AVS revenue sustainability. Restaking is only economically rational if AVSs pay enough fees to compensate for the slashing risk. If AVS-token rewards trade lower than expected, or if the points-farming bootstrap dynamic exhausts (which it has, post-airdrop), restakers may unwind. The TVL trajectory from US$20B (May 2024) to US$10-12B (mid-2025) to US$10-15B (April 2026, post-EIGEN airdrop) — the EigenLayer $18B milestone — illustrates the dynamic.
5. Ethereum-systemic risk. A 2023 Vitalik Buterin essay warned that restaking could "drag" Ethereum consensus into AVS social-consensus disputes — if a sufficiently large fraction of stake is restaked into a single AVS and that AVS faces a contested fork, the resolution could split Ethereum itself. EigenLayer's Programmable Trust framework directly addresses this concern by isolating subjective faults to the EIGEN token rather than the underlying ETH stake.
6. Operator concentration risk. Most restaked ETH delegates to a small number of professional operators, who run dozens of AVSs each. A single operator compromise could slash a large fraction of restaked stake — a risk that mirrors LST operator concentration but at a higher slashing rate.

AVS revenue and sustainability

The 2024-2026 question every restaking analyst tracks: are AVSs paying enough for restakers to take real risk? In 2024, most restaking yield came from points programs and protocol-token airdrops rather than direct AVS fees. The EigenLayer points farming era of 2024 channeled tens of billions of value-on-paper into restakers via protocol-token allocations, but most of that was forward-looking expectation rather than current cash flow.

By 2026 the picture is more disciplined:

• EigenDA generates real fees from rollup blob purchases — predictable cash flow tied to data-availability demand.
• Hyperlane, Lagrange, Brevis, Aligned Layer generate fees from interchain messaging, ZK proof verification, and historical state queries — usage-based revenue.
• eOracle and Witness Chain generate oracle fees and watchtower bounties.
• Many smaller AVSs continue to subsidize via token emissions, with sustainability depending on whether their app-layer demand materializes.

The restaking yield mix in 2026 has shifted from points-dominated to fee-and-token-dominated, with restakers earning a typical 2-4% additional APR on top of base ETH staking yield, though it varies sharply by AVS basket. EigenPhi-style dashboards have made AVS-by-AVS revenue transparent, and LRT issuers compete on AVS curation skill — choosing which AVSs to opt into to maximize risk-adjusted yield.

The peer-reviewed paper Financial Dynamics and Interconnected Risk of Liquid Restaking modeled the systemic risk of correlated LRT positions across DeFi and remains the most-cited LRT risk reference in 2026.

Comparison table: top LRTs

How to restake step-by-step

A typical wstETH→weETH→DeFi flow:

1. Acquire wstETH by minting via Lido or buying on Curve.
2. Visit ether.fi and deposit wstETH (or ETH directly into the native restaking flow).
3. Receive eETH or weETH at the prevailing exchange rate.
4. Choose AVSs via ether.fi's operator selection UI (or accept the default basket curated by ether.fi DAO).
5. (Optional) Use weETH as DeFi collateral in Aave V3 (now widely listed for LRTs), Spark, or Pendle PT/YT pairs for fixed-yield exposure.
6. Track yield through ether.fi's dashboard plus EigenPhi's AVS revenue feed.
7. To exit, swap weETH on Curve/Balancer/Uniswap for ETH (instant, may have slippage), or burn weETH through ether.fi's withdrawal queue (1-7 days, canonical 1:1).

For Symbiotic or Karak deposits, the flow is similar but routes through their respective vault UIs (Symbiotic Vaults, Karak Vaults) and supports a wider asset palette.

Research and reports

The academic and industry literature on restaking expanded quickly post-2024 mainnet:

• Robust Restaking Networks — formal model of restaking incentive compatibility.
• How much should you pay for restaking security? — pricing model for AVS-side fees vs. staker-side bond requirements.
• Mitigating Challenges in Ethereum's Proof-of-Stake Consensus: Evaluating the Impact of EigenLayer and Lido — joint LST + restaking concentration risk analysis.
• Elastic Restaking Networks — extends restaking models to elastic-supply parameters.
• The Cost of Secure Restaking vs. Proof-of-Stake — direct comparison of restaking-secured AVSs vs. their own PoS.
• On Sybil-proofness in Restaking Networks — operator-side sybil resistance.
• Financial Dynamics and Interconnected Risk of Liquid Restaking — LRT-focused systemic risk modeling.
• Kelp DAO Loses $293M in Bridge Exploit, Leaving Aave With Over $200M in Bad Debt — primary news source on the largest LRT contagion event of 2026.
• Kelp DAO exploit triggers crisis of confidence in DeFi — analytical follow-up.

Vitalik Buterin's 2023 "Don't overload Ethereum's consensus" essay remains the canonical statement of the systemic-risk view; the EigenLayer Programmable Trust whitepaper is the canonical response.

FAQ

What is EigenLayer?

EigenLayer is the Ethereum-native restaking protocol founded by Sreeram Kannan and built by Eigen Labs. It lets ETH stakers and LST holders re-pledge their staked capital to also secure additional services called Actively Validated Services (AVSs). Restakers earn additional yield from AVS fees and slashing-backed bond rewards.

What is restaking?

Restaking is the practice of using already-staked ETH (native or via an LST) as economic collateral for additional services beyond Ethereum consensus. The same dollar of stake secures Ethereum's base layer and one or more AVSs simultaneously and is subject to slashing for misbehavior on either layer.

What is an AVS (Actively Validated Service)?

An AVS is any system that pays restakers to validate or attest to off-chain or cross-chain work. Examples include EigenDA (data availability), Lagrange (ZK state committees), Witness Chain (proof of location), eOracle (oracle network), Hyperlane (interchain messaging via ISMs), Brevis (ZK coprocessor), Aligned Layer (proof aggregation), Omni Network (interoperability), Lyra/Derive (options), Skate, Cyber, automata, EigenCloud workloads, and dozens more.

What is the EIGEN token?

EIGEN is the EigenLayer protocol token, mainnet-activated on 30 September 2024 with the airdrop opening on 1 October 2024 to season-1 restakers. EIGEN backstops the slashing security of intersubjective attacks via the Programmable Trust framework — it is itself slashable and forkable by social consensus to resolve subjective disputes.

What are Liquid Restaking Tokens (LRTs)?

LRTs are ERC-20 receipts for restaked ETH or LSTs in EigenLayer (or Symbiotic, Karak). The leaders are ether.fi eETH/weETH (largest), Renzo ezETH, Kelp rsETH, Puffer pzETH, Bedrock uniETH, Swell rswETH, Mantle cmETH and Eigenpie. LRTs aggregate restaking positions, abstract operator selection, and are usable as DeFi collateral.

When did EigenLayer slashing go live?

EigenLayer slashing went live on Ethereum mainnet in April 2025, completing the protocol's transition from points-farming bootstrap to fully active cryptoeconomic security. Slashing is configured per AVS — operators staked into an AVS are slashable for that AVS's defined misbehavior conditions.

What is Symbiotic and how is it different from EigenLayer?

Symbiotic is a modular restaking framework launched 2024 with no native token at issuance and a permissionless approach to assets, networks, and operators. Symbiotic lets any project define its own collateral assets, slashing parameters, and operator universe. Lido's stETH was an early Symbiotic-supported asset. Cosmos Hub and several L1s use Symbiotic as a security marketplace.

What is Karak Network?

Karak is a multi-asset restaking protocol from Andalusia Labs accepting ETH, LSTs, LRTs, BTC, stablecoins and Pendle PT positions as restaked collateral. Karak Vaults host Distributed Secure Services (DSSes). Karak's chain K2 is an EVM L2 designed for native restaking-secured rollups.

What happened with the Renzo ezETH depeg in April 2024?

On 24 April 2024 Renzo's ezETH depegged sharply during a confused token-launch and points-farming exit, with the secondary market price falling 5-10% intraday before recovering. The episode drove home the risks of LRT secondary-market liquidity and points-farming dynamics, and was the first stress event of the LRT era.

What are the risks of restaking?

The principal risks are slashing (operator misbehavior on an AVS slashes the underlying ETH), smart contract risk in EigenLayer, the LRT, and any DeFi integration; LRT depeg risk; AVS revenue sustainability; and Ethereum-systemic risk if a large fraction of stake is restaked into highly-correlated AVSs. The 2026 Kelp DAO LayerZero bridge exploit illustrated cross-chain LRT bridge risk in particular.

Glossary

• Restaking — re-pledging already-staked ETH/LST as collateral for additional services.
• AVS (Actively Validated Service) — a system that pays restakers to validate off-chain or cross-chain work.
• LRT (Liquid Restaking Token) — an ERC-20 receipt for a restaked position.
• Operator — entity that runs AVS validation software on behalf of restakers.
• Strategy — the EigenLayer contract that holds a specific token type (ETH-strategy, stETH-strategy, etc.).
• Programmable Trust — Eigen Labs's framework for handling objective, intersubjective, and subjective faults.
• Slashing — penalty applied to an operator's stake for AVS misbehavior.
• Native restaking — restaking via running an Ethereum validator with EigenLayer-pointed withdrawal credentials.
• LST restaking — restaking by depositing an LST into the LST strategy contract.
• EigenDA — Eigen Labs's data availability AVS.
• EigenCloud — Eigen Labs's verifiable-compute extension launched 2025.

Related reading

• Liquid Staking Tokens (LSTs) 2026 guide
• What is Ethereum? 2026 guide
• What is DeFi? 2026 guide
• Ethereum Layer 2 Networks 2026 guide
• Real-World Asset Tokenization 2026 guide
• Stablecoins Explained 2026 guide

Related comparisons

• Compare: EigenLayer vs Karak
• Compare: Symbiotic vs Karak
• Compare: Ether.fi vs Renzo
• Compare: Ether.fi vs Puffer

Sources and further reading

• EigenLayer — https://www.eigenlayer.xyz/
• EigenLayer blog — https://blog.eigenlayer.xyz/
• EigenLayer whitepaper — https://docs.eigenlayer.xyz/
• EIGEN token whitepaper — https://docs.eigenlayer.xyz/eigenlayer/concepts/programmable-trust
• Symbiotic — https://www.symbiotic.fi/
• Karak Network — https://karak.network/
• ether.fi — https://www.ether.fi/
• Renzo Protocol — https://www.renzoprotocol.com/
• Kelp DAO — https://kelpdao.xyz/
• Puffer Finance — https://www.puffer.fi/
• Bedrock — https://bedrock.technology/
• Swell — https://www.swellnetwork.io/
• Mantle Restaking — https://www.mantle.xyz/staking
• Solayer — https://www.solayer.org/
• Jito Restaking — https://www.jito.network/restaking
• arXiv: Robust Restaking Networks — https://arxiv.org/abs/2407.21785
• arXiv: Pricing Restaking Security — https://arxiv.org/abs/2408.00928
• arXiv: Mitigating PoS Challenges — https://arxiv.org/abs/2410.23422
• arXiv: Elastic Restaking Networks — https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.00170
• arXiv: Cost of Secure Restaking — https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.24440
• arXiv: Sybil-proofness in Restaking — https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.18338
• arXiv: Financial Dynamics of Liquid Restaking — https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.03274

About the author

DeFi Intel Research is the in-house research arm covering staking, restaking, and DeFi credit markets across Ethereum, Solana, and the modular blockchain stack. Our analysts read every Eigen Labs research call, run validator and operator infrastructure for testing, and publish independent risk reviews of major LRTs and AVSs.

Last updated: 2026-04-26