Everything You Need to Know About EigenLayer’s EIGEN Airdrop

After months of addressing investor frustrations with the response, "There is no token," Eigen Labs, the parent company of EigenLayer, released details on Monday about an upcoming token. The token is called EIGEN, it will be distributed through a series of airdrops, with 15% specifically reserved for individuals who have used EigenLayer to "restake" their tokens.

Restriction for VPN Users and Users From the US, China, Russia, and Canada

Users from several countries, including the US, China, Russia, and Canada, are ineligible to claim EIGEN tokens. Additionally, Eigen Labs will prohibit individuals using virtual private networks (VPNs) from claiming tokens. VPNs are commonly employed by users to circumvent location-based restrictions on cryptocurrency activities.

Launched in June last year, EigenLayer rapidly ascended to become the second-largest protocol in decentralized finance, boasting over $15 billion in user deposits. EigenLayer introduced the innovative concept of restaking—utilizing the same capital and hardware to support multiple protocols. Traditionally, Ether was used exclusively to secure the Ethereum blockchain. EigenLayer expanded this by enabling Ether to also secure a variety of other protocols, such as oracles and bridges, that would typically require their own blockchains.

Many believe this innovation has the potential to revolutionize Ethereum, and this potential was recognized by venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, which recently invested $100 million in Eigen Labs. However, the excitement surrounding EigenLayer was not solely due to its technological advancements but also speculation that Eigen Labs would eventually launch a token and reward early users with allocations.

This speculation was rooted in EigenLayer's practice of awarding "points" to depositors, a strategy similar to other crypto projects that use such points to determine token distributions during airdrops. Protocols like Pendle surged based on the assumption that these points could be traded or used to speculate on the price of a future EigenLayer token.

Despite persistent inquiries in the company’s Discord channel about a potential airdrop, Eigen Labs maintained secrecy, often responding with a phrase that became emblematic: “There is no token.” This veil of mystery was lifted with Monday’s announcement, confirming the speculation and rewarding early supporters.

Read More: EigenLayer: Driving ETH Staking Growth—What's Next for DeFi?

EIGEN Airdrops Detail

EigenLayer will distribute the first 5% of its EIGEN tokens among individuals who have restaked through EigenLayer or a liquid restaking protocol like Ether.Fi before March 15. Starting May 10, these participants can claim their allocated tokens.

A further tenth of this initial distribution is reserved for those who have engaged with EigenLayer in more sophisticated ways, potentially including users of DeFi protocols like Pendle.

Recipients of the token will initially be unable to transfer it to other crypto wallets. Eigen Labs explained that specific objectives must be met in the upcoming months before EIGEN becomes transferable and forkable. The token is designed to enforce rules within the EigenLayer ecosystem that cannot be automatically monitored by blockchain applications, potentially enabling the development of new protocols.

According to Eigen Labs, possible applications for EIGEN include transaction ordering, databases, storage services, oracles, artificial intelligence processors, and much more.

At launch, EIGEN will have a dynamic supply of 1.6 billion tokens. Although an initial emissions schedule has not been set, it is anticipated that the token supply will be inflationary in the early years, allocated through protocol mechanisms that benefit the EigenLayer community exclusively.

Nearly 30% of the tokens have been earmarked for Eigen Labs investors, with about a quarter reserved for early contributors, neither of whom can sell their tokens for three years. Starting in 2027, 4% of their tokens will become available each month.

Additionally, 15% of the tokens have been allocated to the newly formed Eigen Foundation and for future community initiatives. The Eigen Foundation, an independent entity without shareholders, is dedicated to fostering the growth of the EigenLayer ecosystem through grant programs and protocol development.