Restaking

Restaking is a mechanism that allows ETH stakers to reuse their staked ETH as cryptoeconomic security for additional protocols beyond Ethereum itself. Normally, when you stake ETH, that stake secures the Ethereum network and earns staking rewards. Restaking, pioneered by EigenLayer, allows the same staked ETH to simultaneously secure other services like oracle networks, data availability layers, bridges, or new blockchains, earning additional rewards from each. Think of it as collateral being put to work in multiple places at once. Each additional protocol you opt into pays rewards in exchange for extending your stake's security guarantee to their system. If you misbehave in any of these systems, your stake can be slashed. This is the risk: restaking amplifies both rewards and slashing exposure. The benefit to new protocols is that they can bootstrap cryptoeconomic security by tapping into Ethereum's existing validator set, rather than needing to attract their own independent validators. EigenLayer has attracted tens of billions in restaked ETH, making it one of the fastest-growing protocols in Ethereum's history.