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We’re thrilled to announce our collaboration with Eigen Foundation, providing data-driven incentive modeling for their initial stakedrop and forthcoming initiatives. The OpenBlock platform empowers teams with a resilient infrastructure to craft and implement incentive strategies that align with strategic goals.

EigenLayer has rapidly evolved from being just a protocol to forming a thriving ecosystem and community. In the last six months, we've built the infrastructure enabling real-time access to data and insights across the entire EigenLayer ecosystem. This article showcases some highlights of our progress, demonstrating the depth of intelligence and insights we're delivering to the EigenLayer community.

Background

EigenLayer is a restaking platform that enables individuals to deposit collateral to secure and earn additional rewards from Actively Validated Services (AVSs). Since EigenLayer’s launch in June 2023, over 4.84M ETH (~$15B) has been deposited into EigenLayer. These deposits consist of over 100,000 natively restaked validators and over 600,000 unique restakers (including LRT users).

A Thriving Ecosystem

Native Restakers

Native restakers are vital constituents of the EigenLayer ecosystem and increase the network’s decentralization and resilience. Native restakers are validators who opt into EigenLayer by pointing their withdrawal credentials to their respective EigenPods. Over the past 30 days, 66% of validators joining the Ethereum network have also opted into restaking on EigenLayer.

LRTs

Starting in December 2023, LRTs have quickly emerged as a key component of the EigenLayer ecosystem. LRTs significantly reduce the cost of capital to being an EigenLayer depositor, allowing users to maintain the liquidity of their restaked assets. LRTs such as Renzo, EtherFi, Puffer, and Kelp have attracted over $9.7B in liquidity to the EigenLayer ecosystem, representing over 60% of all EigenLayer deposits.

At OpenBlock, we helped power and provided the tools necessary to analyze hundreds of thousands of LRT user profiles. The rising demand for LRTs has led to a rapid increase in LRT DEX liquidity and better price execution. Today, there is over $445M of total LRT DEX liquidity, with a ~$72M increase (~19%) in DEX liquidity over the past 30 days.

Operators

As AVSs come online, operators will play a pivotal role in enhancing the EigenLayer ecosystem, improving the decentralization provided to these services. There are ~1,000 node operators, with more joining the network each day.

Our Commitment to the EigenLayer Ecosystem

OpenBlock is proud to be one of the earliest supporters of the EigenLayer ecosystem. We firmly believe that well-crafted, data-driven incentives will be one of the keys to unlocking EigenLayer’s potential. We are committed to building alongside the entire EigenLayer ecosystem and playing infinite-sum games.

We are particularly focused on several critical areas of research to ensure the EigenLayer ecosystem continues to thrive

• Future programmatic rewards for restakers and AVSs: Modeling dynamic reward programs that adapt to market conditions and participation rates. This ensures that restakers and AVSs are recognized for their contributions to network security and performance.
• AVS incentives and dual staking: OpenBlock is committed to working with AVSs to create incentive-compatible rewards strategies to foster sustainable growth. This includes developing novel models for understanding value accrual and capture under a dual staking model.
• Operator incentives and decentralization: A decentralized operator set is vital to EigenLayer's health and long-term credible neutrality. We aim to design incentives that not only attract a diverse range of operators but also promote a decentralized and resilient network.
• LRT liquidity incentives and risk management across DeFi: OpenBlock is committed to developing incentives alongside LRT teams that bolster liquidity for LRTs while also implementing comprehensive risk management and incentive strategies across DeFi. By understanding and mitigating the relevant risks, we can ensure a sustainable environment for long-term EigenLayer liquidity.

We continue to leverage and build upon our EigenLayer models to provide best-in-class insights to all constituents of the EigenLayer ecosystem. This research, supported by our data insights and models, enables us to have differentiated views on EigenLayer's future. These insights equip AVS teams, operators, and restakers with data intelligence to make predictive assessments on EigenLayer’s trajectory.

Build with us

OpenBlock Labs is proud to have supported the EigenLayer team by providing top-tier data intelligence and insights. We look forward to continuing to work with the ecosystem on providing data intelligence on future incentive mechanisms.

If you are interested in working with OpenBlock Labs, please visit us at openblocklabs.com or reach out via Twitter at @openblocklabs.