EigenLayer's slashing testnet went live on Dec. 20, 2024, marking a significant step towards its mainnet launch, pending approval of the EigenLayer Improvement Protocol. This has marked the latest development in a seismic year for the revolutionary Ethereum staking protocol, with its $EIGEN token launch resulting in one the most anticipated airdrops of the year in early 2024.
Robert Drost, Ph.D., is the CEO of the Eigen Foundation, which is responsible for the advancement of EigenLayer and has played a crucial role in advocating for intersubjective governance within blockchain networks. His initiatives aim to create a more integrated and resource-efficient ecosystem for DApps and have established EigenLayer as a significant contributor to the development of blockchain technology and governance frameworks.
Earlier we spoke with him during Token2049 Singapore about a myriad of topics, including the future of EigenLayer and Ethereum.
Drost: We've been doing restaking since early 2022, and the ideas were all there already. It's taken a while for people to understand, and that's okay with us. We're building something quite new in crypto, and now we’ve got a lot of company, which is great. People understand restaking, much like staking—these are all ways that allow crypto to have new methods to actually secure crypto and provide new ways to get rewarded.
Ethereum is already quite good at layers one and two. I would frame EigenLayer as something that enhances Ethereum and its token protocols, expanding it into a much richer space than what you can do with regular blockchain VMs. It expands crypto security into the entire computing market—covering every possible software and company out there.
What makes ETH staking so appealing?
Drost: Staking is a great innovation because, rather than just putting funds somewhere passively, staking in crypto makes you more active. You're taking your funds, and staking means you're helping to ensure something is available. Crypto allows you to have trustless security or some kind of decentralized protocol.
