EigenLayer unveils token airdrop plan, allocating 15% to stakers.
Re-staking protocol EigenLayer will launch its native token in May and the distribution will include airdrops for those staking on the platform.
According to the statement, the newly established and independent non-profit Eigen Foundation will be the issuing entity of the tokens.
Eigen tokens will have a total supply of 1.67 billion tokens at launch. The foundation allocated 45% of the tokens to the community. This is further broken down into stake drops (15%), community initiatives (15%) and ecosystem development (15%).
Additionally, 29.5% of tokens have been allocated to investors, with early contributors receiving 25.5%. Investors and early contributors will be subject to a total lock-in period of three years for their allocations. There is complete locking in the first year, with total holdings gradually released at a rate of 4% per month over the next two years.
EigenLayer is a platform that allows users to deposit and “re-stake” Ethereum in various liquid staking tokens, with the goal of allocating those funds to secure third-party networks or actively verified services. Since its launch last June, $16 billion worth of Ethereum has been invested here.
The project also today released a white paper explaining the structure of the Eigen token and how it fits into the EigenLayer ecosystem.
EigenLayer Community Airdrop
The community airdrop, which EigenLayer calls Stakedrop, will give away 15% of the token supply to those who stake using the platform. These tokens will be distributed over several seasons.
In the first season, the Foundation will distribute 5% of the token supply to users based on a snapshot of staking activity taken on March 15, 2024. 90% of the tokens in this first season allocation will be distributed to eligible resellers starting May 10th — with a 120-day billing period. The final 10% can be claimed during the second phase of the first season, which takes place a month later.
The distribution calculation is linear based on the amount of Ether staked and the staking period, with other factors such as base re-staking receiving additional rewards. Initially, once claims begin, tokens will remain non-transferable to allow sufficient time for decentralization and to foster community consensus on the token’s utility and governance.
Nonetheless, once Eigen tokens are launched, users will be able to stake them to secure a data availability layer called EigenDA. The project says other AVSs will soon follow.
The remaining 10% distributed to the community is set aside for future seasons.
EigenLayer introduces ‘subjective branching’.
Along with the Eigen token, the project is introducing a new crypto-economic security system known as inter-subjective forking to serve as a complement to Ethereum re-staking.
This mechanism is designed to address intersubjective faults, which are malicious actions that cannot be immediately detected on the chain, such as data withholding from oracles built on top of EigenLayer.
The intersubjective fork is implemented separately from EigenLayer’s original plan to cut ETH stakers in favor of objectively identifiable on-chain behavior. According to EigenLayer, this will eliminate the need to place unnecessary burden on Ethereum validators.
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