Glossary
EigenLayer
The protocol that introduced restaking: validators opt their staked ETH (or an LST) into securing additional services (AVSs) for extra yield and extra slashing risk.
EigenLayer, launched on Ethereum mainnet in 2024 by Eigen Labs, created the restaking primitive. Validators deposit ETH or a liquid staking token, choose which Actively Validated Services (AVSs) to secure, and earn additional yield in exchange for additional slashing exposure.
The thesis is that one large bond can secure many services — a shared security layer for oracles, bridges, data-availability chains, sequencers, and other middleware. The counter-argument is that correlated failures across restaked services could compound into a single systemic risk.