EigenLayer unveils EIGEN token with an airdrop set for May 10

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Restaking protocol EigenLayer revealed its EIGEN token today, which will be airdropped to users who staked Ether (ETH) in its layer until March 15. Users who staked Ether (ETH) in EigenLayer can start claiming their tokens on May 10, with 5% of EIGEN’s supply destined for this first ‘stakedrop’, as labeled by Eigen Foundation, the new entity dedicated to accelerating the growth of the EigenLayer ecosystem.

According to the announcement, EIGEN will serve as a universal intersubjective work token, which brings the concept of ‘social consensus’ to the on-chain economy. This new kind of consensus can be used when a failure can’t be mathematically proved, and participation in the validation system happens by staking the EIGEN token.

Meanwhile, users can still restake ETH on EigenLayer, which in turn will offer the validation power to secure Actively Validated Services (AVS). The AVS are on-chain services that, instead of investing in their own set of validators, can use the staked ETH power through EigenLayer to establish security.

Bruno Moniz, blockchain engineer at Brazilian digital bank Inter, shared on X that social consensus makes innovation viable on services such as oracles, data availability layers, and integration of artificial intelligence on smart contracts.

“While ETH is used to prove objectively proven failures, EIGEN can be used to prove failures that require social consensus. Together, they make the base for ‘verifiable and open common digital goods’.” Moreover, as it happens with Ether staking, validators can also have their EIGEN slashed if a harmful move by them is detected.

At first, EIGEN tokens won’t be transferable, and the only action available for users will be staking their holdings. Despite distributing just 5% of EIGEN’s supply on the first stakedrop, the total revealed by Eigen Foundation is 15%, meaning that an extra 10% is set to be given to the community in future campaigns.

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