EigenLayer to Distribute 86M Tokens to Stakers, Node Operators

Restaking protocol EigenLayer will distribute 86 million EIGEN tokens to users that have interacted with the platform as a part of “season 2 stakedrop,” it said in a blog post.

Stakers and node operators will receive 70 million tokens, while ecosystem partners and the EigenLayer community will receive 10 million and 6 million respectively, with distribution due to start on Sep. 17. The tokens equate to around 5% of EIGEN’s total supply, which will be 1.67 billion tokens at launch.

EigenLayer initially announced its token in April after the protocol had received around $15.7 billion in deposits. Since then total value locked (TVL) has dropped to $11.3 billion, DefiLlama data shows.

EigenLayer is a protocol built atop Ethereum, it lets users stake ether (ETH), which can be repurposed to secure additional networks or protocols in return for additional yield.

Several restaking protocols have experienced a reduction in TVL over the past month. Renzo’s total has dropped by 22% to $1 billion and Karak’s has fallen 14.6% to $688 million. This is partly due to dwindling asset prices as ether trades at $2,388 compared to July’s high of $3,536, and also results from outflows following the conclusion of several airdrop campaigns.

Airdrop farming was a common strategy for crypto investors earlier this year. It involved staking assets on a protocol in the hope that would increase their share of an airdrop should a native token be released.