EigenDA Expands Token Restaking Support for Layer-2 Networks

According to Cointelegraph, EigenDA, the data availability protocol of EigenLayer, has announced support for native token restaking for layer-2 scaling networks. This new feature, in addition to Ether (ETH) and EigenLayer’s native EIGEN token, was revealed in an Aug. 26 post by EigenDA on the X platform. The post stated that teams can now restake their ERC-20 tokens to secure a custom quorum for their rollup, enhancing security for rollup users and providing token yield for holders. EigenDA operates as a data availability layer on EigenLayer’s ETH restaking platform, aiming to reduce the costs associated with storing and accessing onchain data for Ethereum’s layer-2 scaling solutions. The protocol's mission is to ensure reliable, scalable, and secure data availability. The challenge of securely storing and accessing transaction data has been a significant bottleneck for layer-2 scaling chains. Ethereum’s Dencun upgrade in March attempted to address this issue with temporary offchain data stores called “blobs.” Other protocols, such as Celestia, offer competing solutions. EigenLayer has accumulated almost $12.75 billion in total value locked (TVL), according to DefiLlama. Restaking involves using a token that has already been staked as collateral with a validator to secure other protocols simultaneously. EigenDA was the first actively validated service (AVS) launched on EigenLayer and remains the largest. It is secured by approximately 3.6 million restaked ETH and 71.5 million EIGEN, contributed by over 128,000 stakers, as per EigenLayer’s website. The introduction of native token restaking on EigenDA allows layer-2 networks to create custom consensus mechanisms, or quorums, for securely storing and accessing data. This also broadens the range of tokens that can earn yield from restaking. The post mentioned that as custom ERC-20 token quorums are added to EigenDA, users will soon be able to support staking other tokens similarly to how they stake ETH and EIGEN tokens.