Omni Network has recently secured a major deal valued at $600 million in Ether (ETH) from the restaking protocol Ether.Fi. This substantial amount will be utilized to enhance the security measures of both the Omni Network and EigenLayer.
According to a post on March 4 by Omni Network, the $600 million will play a crucial role in safeguarding both the Omni testnet and mainnet. Omni Network is a blockchain platform that focuses on layer-1 interoperability. Its main objective is to establish secure connections between Ethereum rollups through restaking, aiming to reduce latency and enhance the ecosystem.
The $600 million worth of Ether represents almost 33% of the total value locked (TVL) of Ether.Fi, which currently stands at $1.88 billion. DefiLlama data reveals that Ether.Fi has become the largest liquid restaking protocol globally, with its TVL surging by over 163% in the past month.
The restaking of the $600 million worth of Ether will take place on EigenLayer, which currently holds the title of the largest Ethereum restaking protocol with a TVL of over $10.3 billion.
This recent strategic partnership comes shortly after venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) announced a $100 million funding round for EigenLayer. In addition, EigenLayer completed a $50 million funding round in March, which was led by Blockchain Capital.
EigenLayer, established in 2021, enables validators and stakers to restake liquid-staking derivative tokens such as Lido Staked Ether and RocketPool’s rETH. These tokens are used to secure and validate other networks and can also be deployed in other decentralized finance protocols to earn additional yield.
Currently, liquid staking holds the top position in terms of protocol category on DefiLlama, with a combined TVL of $54.7 billion. Restaking protocols, on the other hand, rank sixth with a value of $10.305 billion. EigenLayer alone accounts for 99.96% of the total TVL locked in restaking protocols.
Investor interest in EigenLayer surged on February 5 when the protocol temporarily removed its staking cap in order to incentivize organic growth. Within this restaking window, EigenLayer’s TVL rose by over 181% from $2.15 billion on February 5 to $6.05 billion on February 10. Although a new staking cap has been implemented, the project plans to permanently remove this limit in the future.
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