Ethereum’s restaking protocol, EigenLayer, has achieved a significant milestone by becoming the fourth-largest protocol in terms of total value locked (TVL). This accomplishment has allowed EigenLayer to surpass the popular cryptocurrency lending protocol, JustLend.
As of February 15th, EigenLayer’s TVL has increased by 5.73% to reach $6.99 billion. Over the past seven days, the protocol has experienced a remarkable growth of 47.95%. Furthermore, EigenLayer has witnessed a staggering 307% surge in TVL over the past month, according to data from DefiLlama.
The rise in EigenLayer’s TVL began on February 5th when the protocol temporarily removed its staking cap. This strategic move aimed to encourage organic growth within the platform. During this period, EigenLayer’s TVL skyrocketed by more than 181%, jumping from $2.15 billion on February 5th to $6.05 billion on February 10th. While a new staking cap has been implemented, EigenLayer plans to eliminate this limit permanently in the future.
Restaking protocols like EigenLayer provide validators and stakers with the opportunity to restake liquid staking derivative tokens, such as Lido Staked ETH and RocketPool’s rETH, to secure and validate other networks. Moreover, these assets can be deployed in various decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols to earn additional yield.
Despite liquid staking currently holding the top spot with $42.69 billion in TVL, restaking protocols have secured the sixth position with a combined TVL of $6.99 billion, as reported by DefiLlama.
An interesting statistic reveals that one out of every four Ethereum validators opted to set their withdrawal credentials to EigenPod in the 30 days leading up to February 9th. This information was shared by EigenLayer’s strategy lead, Brianna Montgomery, in a post on X.
The growing interest in staking protocols became evident in January, shortly after EigenLayer surpassed $1 billion in TVL on December 28th, 2023. As of February 15th, there are a total of 108,574 depositors on the protocol, according to data from Dune. EigenLayer currently holds over 1.52 million Ether tokens.
EigenLayer has ambitious plans for the future. The protocol aims to launch its mainnet for operators, allowing investors to operate a staking node. Additionally, EigenLayer is preparing to unveil EigenDA, a decentralized data availability service built on Ethereum, as announced on X on February 9th.
In related news, Solana’s market capitalization has surpassed BNB, securing the fourth position in the market.