EigenLayer Opens Claims for Airdrop of EIGEN Token, Though It’s Non-Transferable

As an experienced analyst, I’ve closely followed EigenLayer’s progress and the recent developments surrounding its EIGEN token. The non-transferability of the newly minted tokens and geoblocking of certain users from claiming them have been met with controversy in the crypto community.

The anticipated EIGEN airdrop by EigenLayer has commenced, however, users will need to wait before they can trade their newly acquired tokens as the project has kept them from being transferable at present.

Last week, The Eigen Foundation, a non-profit established by Eigen Labs, the creators of EigenLayer, made “claims” available on their platform, EIGEN, as of Friday. It has been announced that these claims will be transferable at a future, undetermined point in time.

On decentralized platforms such as Aevo and Hyperliquid, investors are estimating EIGEN’s worth to be approximately $9 based on current market conditions. With a total supply of 1,673,646,668.28466 tokens at launch, this equates to a fully diluted market capitalization of around $15 billion for the token.

As a market analyst, I can explain that in the cryptocurrency and traditional financial markets, investors have the flexibility to trade perpetual futures contracts. These are essentially futures agreements with no expiration dates. In simpler terms, they enable individuals to take positions on the future price direction of an asset without actually owning it at the present moment. These crypto-native instruments are particularly popular in the digital currency space due to their continuous nature and the ability to speculate on price movements over an extended period.

Julian Koh, Aevo’s CEO, explained in a Telegram message that the term can be understood as the anticipated price at which a spot will be traded when it becomes transferable. People often utilize it as a point of reference, similar to how prediction market odds function as a guide for actual events.

EigenLayer, the Ethereum-based restaking service, has created quite a stir in the blockchain world, attracting over $100M in investment from Andreessen Horowitz and amassing around $16 billion in user deposits towards its “collective security” system prior to its official launch.

EigenLayer, a highly discussed blockchain initiative, has sparked debate with its EIGEN token.

With many of EigenLayer’s primary attributes still under development, the primary motivation for depositing funds into the system has primarily been the accrual of “points.” These points function as tally marks, with crypto traders anticipating they would eventually be connected to an airdrop distribution.

Last week, Eigen Labs introduced the concept of EIGEN, referred to as a “Unified Work Token for Intersubjective Transactions,” which is intended to facilitate transactions and power the underlying infrastructure of EigenLayer.

EIGEN’s distribution plan was immediately met with backlash from EigenLayer point-earners.

Some critics raised concerns over the long prohibition period for token transferability, as well as the exclusion of users from certain regions such as the U.S., Canada, and China from receiving tokens. This disparity in access created friction, especially since there were no geographical restrictions on deposits or reward points.

In the first distribution of tokens, known as “Season 1” airdrop, EigenLayer chose not to include deposits made through third-party “liquid restaking services.” These deposits represented a significant share of the total accumulated deposits. However, it’s uncertain how these deposits will factor into the token allocation for the future “Season 2” airdrop.

In response to the community’s input, EigenLayer adjusted its strategy, designating additional resources for certain participants in the initial airdrop phase called “Season 1.”