This latest stakedrop comes at a time when EigenLayer has been facing net outflows, which has led to a significant reduction in its TVL.
EigenLayer, a leading Ethereum restaking protocol, has confirmed the debut of the second season of its “stakedrop”. As a part of the event, the protocol will release 86 million EIGEN tokens to various stakeholders, with stakers, node operators, ecosystem partners, and community members actively involved between March 15 and August 15 receiving EIGEN in their wallets. The token distribution, which follows the initial launch in April, will commence on or before September 17.
The protocol’s latest stakedrop will see 5% of its fully diluted supply of 1.67 billion tokens allocated to eligible participants.
Notably, out of the 86 million EIGEN tokens, 70 million are earmarked for stakers and node operators, with the distribution based on each participant’s pro-rata share of Ethereum staked during the specified period. Additionally, a maximum of 10 million tokens are allocated for liquid staking protocols, AVSs, and rollups, among other key contributors to the EigenLayer ecosystem. The remaining 6 million tokens will be distributed among early advocates and open-source contributors.
As per the announcement, the EigenLayer community participants are required to confirm their social identities. For this, they must connect their wallet addresses with their social media accounts on the Eigen Foundation’s verification platform by September 11.
It is important to note that 2024 has been the year of airdrops with Notcoin (NOT), Blast (BLAST), zkSynch (ZK), and LayerZero (ZRO) distributing their tokens to community members. EIGEN token airdrops will join the list of these massive airdrops.
TVL Drop
This latest stakedrop comes at a time when EigenLayer has been facing net outflows, which has led to a significant reduction in its total value locked (TVL). Once peaking at $20.1 billion and becoming the second-largest DeFi protocol in June, EigenLayer’s TVL has since fallen to $11.35 billion. Experts suggest that the conclusion of earlier airdrop campaigns may have contributed to this decline.
Moreover, in August, allegations surfaced about potentially questionable practices regarding EigenLayer’s airdrop policy. Reports claim that Eigen Labs, the organization behind the protocol, may have accepted substantial token payouts from projects like Renzo, AltLayer, and ether.fi.
Around $5 million worth of these tokens were awarded to those working at Eigen Labs, and each employee pocketed almost $80,000.
Looking Ahead
EigenLayer’s platform allows users to stake Ether from liquid staking tokens, directing these funds to secure third-party networks or actively validated services. Looking ahead, the protocol plans to launch a programmatic incentives initiative to maintain reward continuity for both stakers and operators after the Season 2 Stakedrop. EigenLayer promises a sustainable long-term model designed to benefit all participants involved.
EigenLayer continues to be a dominant player in the restaking ecosystem, with its token having a pre-market value of roughly $2.7. This places EigenLayer’s fully diluted valuation at around $4.5 billion.
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