EigenLayer (EIGEN): how it works, supply and reviews
In short
- Type
- Restaking protocol built from smart contracts on Ethereum, not a separate blockchain
- Initial supply
- 1,673,646,668.28466 EIGEN at launch, excluding inflationary issuance
- Risks and caveats
- Restaked assets can be slashed if an operator breaks an AVS's conditions
- Checked
- 31 October 2026
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Key facts
- Ticker
- EIGEN
- Official site
- eigencloud.xyz
Key facts checked on 31 October 2026 against official sources.
What is EigenLayer
EigenLayer is a restaking protocol on Ethereum: stakers deposit native ETH, liquid staking tokens, EIGEN or other ERC-20 tokens and delegate them to operators who run services called AVSs. Those services can pay rewards and slash stake if commitments are broken. Eigen Labs now presents it as the trust layer of its EigenCloud platform.
Network and consensus
| Parameter | Details |
|---|---|
| Type | Restaking protocol built from smart contracts on Ethereum, not a separate blockchain |
| Accepted assets | Native ETH, liquid staking tokens, EIGEN and other ERC-20 tokens |
| Slashing | Slashing went live on mainnet on 17 April 2025; slashed funds are burned or, for redistributable sets, redistributed after a 7-day delay |
| Withdrawal delay | About 14 days (100,800 blocks) between queueing a withdrawal and completing it |
| Deployments | Core contracts on Ethereum mainnet (v1.13.1); multichain destination contracts on Base |
Supply and issuance
| Parameter | Details |
|---|---|
| Initial supply | 1,673,646,668.28466 EIGEN at launch, excluding inflationary issuance |
| Community allocation | 45% of the initial supply for the community: 15% stakedrops, 15% community initiatives, 15% R&D and ecosystem growth |
| Inflation | Fixed 4% of the initial supply per year at launch, used for programmatic rewards; changeable by governance |
| Emissions policy | ELIP-12 (December 2025) proposed an Incentives Committee to redirect emissions toward fee-paying services and fees toward buybacks |
| Insider unlock | Investor and contributor tokens locked 1 year after transferability, then 4% per month; fully unlocked 3 years after |
What EIGEN is used for
- Restaking: EIGEN can be staked in EigenLayer alongside ETH and liquid staking tokens
- Intersubjective security: EIGEN can be forked to penalise faults that cannot be proven on-chain
- Rewards: AVSs and programmatic incentives pay EIGEN to stakers and operators
Who develops and governs EigenLayer
- Developer
- Eigen Labs, Inc. develops the protocol; code is in the Layr-Labs GitHub organisation
- Foundation
- The Eigen Foundation stewards the EIGEN token and aims to hand upgrade control to community governance (EigenGov)
- Governance
- Upgrades go through a 3-of-5 Protocol Council multisig and a timelock of at least 10 days; ELIP proposals
- Emergency powers
- A 9-of-13 Community Multisig can execute time-critical upgrades; a 1-of-8 Pauser multisig is held by Eigen Labs and the Foundation
- Open source
- Contracts are published in the Layr-Labs/eigenlayer-contracts repository
History
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 14 June 2023 | Stage 1 mainnet launch with capped liquid-staking-token restaking (stETH, rETH, cbETH) and native restaking |
| 30 September 2024 | EIGEN became transferable |
| 17 April 2025 | Slashing went live on mainnet |
| 17 June 2025 | Eigen Labs launched EigenCloud, a developer platform built on EigenLayer |
| 18 December 2025 | ELIP-12 proposed an Incentives Committee to manage EIGEN emissions |
Security and audits
- Audit reports published in the contracts repository include ConsenSys Diligence (March 2023), Sigma Prime (May 2023 to February 2026), Cantina (April 2024, March 2025) and Certora (August 2024 to May 2026)
- Bug bounty programme on Immunefi
- A withdrawal delay lets the protocol pause and respond if a vulnerability is disclosed or anomalies are detected
Security incidents
| Date | What happened | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 4 October 2024 | Hack: EigenLayer said that an email thread involving one investor's transfer of tokens into custody was compromised by an attacker, and 1,673,645 EIGEN tokens were transferred to the attacker's address. It called it an isolated incident. Funds returned: not stated | x.com |
| 18 October 2024 | Hack: Eigen Labs said the project's X handle (now @eigencloud) had been compromised and warned users not to engage with suspicious links. Funds returned: not stated | x.com |
Official EIGEN contracts
| Network | Contract address |
|---|---|
| Ethereum | 0xec53bf9167f50cdeb3ae105f56099aaab9061f83 |
| Ethereum | 0x83E9115d334D248Ce39a6f36144aEaB5b3456e75 |
EIGEN token and Backing Eigen (bEIGEN) proxy addresses on Ethereum, as listed in the eigenlayer-contracts README.
Risks and caveats
- Restaked assets can be slashed if an operator breaks an AVS's conditions
- Withdrawals wait about 14 days, and contracts can be paused and upgraded during an incident
- Upgrades and pausing are controlled by multisigs (Protocol Council, Community, Ops, Pauser) rather than token holders
- EIGEN supply grows through inflationary rewards on top of the initial supply
Official links
- Website: www.eigencloud.xyz
- Docs: docs.eigencloud.xyz
- Source code: github.com/Layr-Labs
- Blog: www.eigenlabs.org/blog
- Foundation: docs.eigenfoundation.org
Questions and answers
What is EigenLayer?
A restaking protocol on Ethereum where stakers delegate ETH, liquid staking tokens or EIGEN to operators who secure additional services (AVSs) for rewards, with slashing as a penalty.
What is EigenCloud?
EigenCloud is the developer platform Eigen Labs launched on 17 June 2025 on top of EigenLayer, bundling services such as EigenDA and EigenCompute.
What is the supply of EIGEN?
The initial supply was 1,673,646,668.28466 EIGEN, with annual inflation set at 4% of the initial supply at launch for programmatic rewards.
When did EIGEN become transferable?
EIGEN became transferable on 30 September 2024.
Is EigenLayer audited?
Audit reports by ConsenSys Diligence, Sigma Prime, Cantina and Certora are published in the contracts repository, and a bug bounty runs on Immunefi.
Sources
- EigenCloud docs (GitHub source) - EigenLayer overview
- EigenCloud docs (GitHub source) - EigenCloud overview
- EigenCloud docs (GitHub source) - Safety delays
- EigenCloud docs (GitHub source) - Audits
- Layr-Labs/eigenlayer-contracts README
- Layr-Labs/eigenlayer-contracts audits folder
- Eigen Foundation - Key information on the initial EIGEN supply
- Eigen Foundation - EIGEN purpose, unlock, transferability
- Eigen Foundation - Technical architecture
- Eigen Labs blog - Stage 1 mainnet launch
- Eigen Labs blog - Slashing goes live
- Eigen Labs blog - Introducing EigenCloud
- Eigen Labs blog - A new era of EIGEN incentives
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