Users who felt excluded from the recently announced Eigenlayer airdrop have expressed their dissatisfaction with the restaking protocol’s announcement. They have raised concerns about the non-transferable token structure, strict geo-restrictions, and the short snapshot period.
Eigenlayer, the second-largest protocol with $15.67 billion in total value locked (TVL), revealed the details of its anticipated “stakedrop” in a blog post on April 29.
Although the protocol had never officially confirmed an airdrop until Monday, speculators were willing to stake their Ether (ETH) in Eigenlayer, adding over $15.7 billion to the protocol since its inception, in the hopes of receiving an airdrop in the future.
In the announcement, Eigen Foundation stated that it would allocate 15% of EIGEN’s total supply of 1.67 billion tokens to the community. However, only 5% of the initial allocation would be given to early users who participated in Season One, with the remaining allocation distributed in subsequent seasons.
Some users criticized the relatively small allocation and found the airdrop allocation documents confusing.
The main source of criticism from stakedrop critics was that while users could claim their EIGEN tokens from March 10, they would not be able to transfer or sell them until an undisclosed date. The Eigen Foundation explained that this control was implemented to establish key features like payments and slashing parameters before allowing the transfer of EIGEN tokens among users.
Additionally, users expressed dissatisfaction with Eigen’s linear distribution model, which means that the number of points users earn is directly proportional to the number of claimable EIGEN tokens. Critics argue that this approach unfairly benefits large restakers.
However, EigenLayer is not the first protocol to use a linear model for token distribution. Other protocols, such as Kamino Finance and Parcl, also adopted this distribution model in their respective airdrops last month, without receiving the same level of criticism at the time.
Another major concern for critics was the strict geographic restrictions on users claiming their airdrops. According to EigenLayer’s legal documentation, users from 30 countries, including the United States, Canada, China, and Russia, were ineligible to claim EIGEN tokens. The foundation took additional measures to prevent users from bypassing these restrictions using VPNs.
Despite the backlash, Henrik Andersson, the chief investment officer of Australian crypto investment firm Apollo Capital, believes that many of EigenLayer’s critics are simply looking for reasons to be upset. He considers the protocol’s 15% allocation to users as generous and praises its clear distribution model. Andersson believes that the linear distribution approach is fair and eliminates issues related to Sybil attacks.
In conclusion, while some users have expressed their discontent with the Eigenlayer airdrop, others see the protocol’s allocation and distribution model as positive. The controversy surrounding the airdrop has sparked discussions about fairness and user expectations in the crypto community.