Source: Daoshuo Blockchain
Recently, a particularly attractive track has emerged in the Ethereum ecosystem:
Re-staking track based on EigenLayer .
There are already a lot of articles about this track on the Internet, but these articles mainly focus on introducing some projects that may have airdrops, and there are few descriptions of the principles and potential problems of this track.
Introducing the project directly seems straightforward and allows readers to copy the homework immediately, but it is difficult to inspire us to independently search for and discover new projects and new opportunities.
So in the following article, I will share with you my understanding of some of the basic principles and potential opportunities of this track.
The foundation of this track is EigenLayer. So everything starts with the EigenLayer project.
What is EigenLayer?
It is a solution dedicated to extending Ethereum staking security to other ecosystems.
We all know that the security of the Ethereum blockchain comes from the participation of nodes in the Ethereum network in consensus. In order to allow the nodes participating in the consensus to work normally without doing evil, Ethereum has set up a mechanism: each node can participate in block packaging and other work only after mortgaging 32 ETH.
When a node works normally, it can get rewards; but when it does evil or does not work properly, its mortgaged ETH will be forfeited.
This mechanism is the foundation of the security of the entire Ethereum, and it is also a mechanism common to other blockchains based on POS consensus.
Among all current blockchains based on POS consensus, Ethereum is obviously the most secure and the market value of ETH is also the largest.
In this case, can the security of Ethereum be simply extended to other POS-based blockchains or systems that also require security?
So the idea of EigenLayer was put forward.
Its plan is very straightforward: since Ethereum’s nodes have provided such high security for Ethereum, and since the market value of ETH is the highest among all POS blockchains, why not directly guide Ethereum? Does Square Node provide the same security as other POS blockchains or systems? Why not just use ETH as the asset needed for secure collateral?
Following this idea, one of the most direct methods is to let Ethereum nodes participate in the staking of other POS blockchains or systems at the same time. Specific to technical implementation, the mortgaged ETH is re-mortgaged to other POS blockchains or systems that require security protection.
If this method is further refined, developed and extended, four specific implementation methods will emerge:
The first one is to transfer the funds already mortgaged in Ethereum. ETH is also used as collateral to stake into other systems. This is equivalent to one ETH serving as a collateral asset for both Ethereum and other systems.
The second method is to mortgage the ETH derivatives obtained from the mortgage (such as stETH obtained through Lido and rETH obtained through Rocket) to other systems. At this time, ETH is directly mortgaged in Ethereum and indirectly mortgaged in other systems.
The third method is derived from the first method. Since ETH can also be used as collateral for other systems, why not use derivative assets containing ETH as collateral? The most typical one is the trading pair (LP) token containing ETH on various decentralized exchanges. Mortgage such tokens into other systems.
The fourth method is derived from the second method and imitates the third method. Since stETH and rETH can be used as collateral for other systems, we can also use derivative assets containing stETH and rETH as collateral, such as mortgaging the trading pair tokens containing stETH and rETH in various decentralized exchanges to other systems. .
The above four modes are the mortgage methods described by EigenLayer in its white paper.
The design idea of EigenLayer is divergent and open. It is based on ETH and regards ETH and its derived xxETH assets as valid assets to participate in the pledge of other systems.
Because of the divergence and openness of the protocol, it leaves a lot of room for the development of this track.
Among the above four methods, except for the first, the other three methods all use derivative assets. Project parties can create a variety of ETH-based derivative assets based on different scenarios and use them as collateral.
As a result, various matryoshka projects based on EigenLayer emerged one after another, making this track extremely lively.