EigenLayer to Distribute 86M Tokens to Stakers, Node Operators

As a researcher who has closely followed the decentralized finance (DeFi) landscape for quite some time now, I find the recent announcement by EigenLayer regarding their “season 2 stakedrop” intriguing. The decision to distribute around 5% of their total supply of EIGEN tokens is a bold move that could potentially attract more users and boost engagement on the platform.

In a recent blog post, EigenLayer’s restaking protocol plans to distribute 86 million EIGEN tokens to users who have engaged with the platform during the “Season 2 stakedrop.”

70 million tokens will be given to both stakers and node operators, while ecosystem partners and the EigenLayer community will each receive 10 million and 6 million respectively. The distribution is set to begin on September 17. These tokens represent approximately 5% of EIGEN’s total supply, which will amount to 1.67 billion tokens at launch

Originally, EigenLayer unveiled its token back in April, following approximately 15.7 billion dollars worth of deposits into the protocol. However, according to DefiLlama’s data, the total value locked (TVL) has since decreased to about 11.3 billion dollars

Over the past month, multiple re-staking protocols have observed a decrease in TVL (Total Value Locked). Renzo’s total value has decreased by 22% to $1 billion, while Karak’s has dropped by 14.6% to $688 million. This decline is partly attributed to falling asset prices, as ether now trades at $2,388 compared to its peak in July of $3,536. Additionally, this trend may be influenced by outflows following the completion of several airdrop campaigns

Earlier this year, airdropping farming was a popular method among cryptocurrency investors. This approach involved locking up assets within a protocol, with the expectation that it would boost one’s portion of an airdrop if a native token were to be distributed