Question 1

What is EIGEN, and how does it relate to ETH restaking?

Accepted Answer

EIGEN is the token of the EigenLayer ecosystem and serves to complement the security provided by ETH restaking. ETH restaking can allow already-staked ETH to secure additional decentralized services; EIGEN is designed to address certain faults that cannot be objectively determined by onchain rules alone. Such services are called AVSs (Actively Validated Services). EIGEN’s focus is not to replace ETH, but to add a layer of forkable cryptoeconomic security for AVSs that need to address intersubjectively attributable faults.

Question 2

What are the “intersubjectively attributable faults” EIGEN is designed to address?

Accepted Answer

An intersubjectively attributable fault is one where onchain code cannot directly prove that conduct violated a rule, but reasonable observers would consider the conduct punishable. For example, the issue is not whether an onchain transaction complies with deterministic rules, but whether a service engaged in misconduct that is difficult to adjudicate automatically onchain. EIGEN introduces an “intersubjective fork” mechanism for this purpose. When a perceived fault occurs, a fork can be proposed, and users can choose to support the version they consider valid; this process occurs within EigenLayer on Ethereum and does not require a fork of Ethereum mainnet consensus itself.

Question 3

How does EIGEN provide security for AVSs?

Accepted Answer

EIGEN can provide security resources for AVSs that adopt this security model. Officially cited potential AVS use cases include transaction ordering, databases, storage services, oracles, and artificial intelligence processing; these are only possible use cases and do not mean every type of service has already adopted EIGEN. Forks are designed to be rare events: challengers must commit a substantial amount of EIGEN, and that commitment is then rewarded or burned according to social-consensus rules. This gives challenges a clear cost, while supporters’ choice of the valid version forms part of the mechanism.

Question 4

What are EIGEN’s initial supply and inflation mechanism?

Accepted Answer

EIGEN’s initial total supply was 1,673,646,668.28466 tokens, a figure that excludes subsequent inflationary issuance. Of the initial supply, 45% was allocated to the community: 15% for stakedrop, 15% for community initiatives, and 15% for R&D and ecosystem growth. The initial rules also set a 4% annualized inflation rate, calculated from the initial supply, for protocolized reward issuance; this arrangement continues unless future community governance makes adjustments. Therefore, the initial supply should not be treated directly as a permanently fixed total supply.

Question 5

When did EIGEN become transferable, and how do investors and early contributors unlock?

Accepted Answer

EIGEN became transferable on September 30, 2024. Before then, the project made it non-transferable; the official explanation included allowing AVSs to build around the intersubjective-fork mechanism and completing relevant product and decentralization milestones before token liquidity. Transferability does not mean all allocations unlock immediately. Allocations for investors, early contributors, and Eigen Foundation service providers remained locked for one year after transfer restrictions were lifted; after one year, 4% of each allocation unlocks first, followed by another 4% each month until fully unlocked after approximately three years.

Question 6

What mechanisms and conditions should be distinguished when understanding EIGEN?

Accepted Answer

When assessing EIGEN, it is important to distinguish among three things: the security provided by ETH restaking, the intersubjectively attributable faults addressed by EIGEN, and whether a given AVS actually adopts this mechanism. Potential AVS uses do not automatically translate into token demand or returns. On the supply side, protocolized inflation, community-program allocations, and the established unlock schedule also have an effect. Intersubjective forks depend on social consensus and are designed as a rare mechanism, so their practical effectiveness also depends on whether participants accept and execute the process.

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