The long-awaited airdrop of the EigenLayer restaking protocol has been announced, but is far from unanimous. Geographical restrictions and EIGEN token allocation deemed minimal by the community are just some of the criticisms levelled at EigenLayer.
EigenLayer lifts the veil on its long-awaited airdrop
Contrary to what the EigenLayer teams have been declaring for several months, there will indeed be an airdrop on the most important restaking protocol, and now project to the 2nd largest total locked value (TVL) in the ecosystem.
It is already possible to check your eligibility for the EigenLayer airdrop (called “Stakedrop”), and the claim is set for March 10 for the first phase.
Although the community was well aware that EigenLayer would announce the airdrop of its token sooner or later, it was soon disillusioned. Indeed, EigenLayer’s token, christened EIGEN, was introduced in a rather vague manner, with tokenomics that were far from unanimous.
Introducing the Eigen Foundation, EIGEN token, and Season 1 Stakedrop! pic.twitter.com/lxEVSbRfVB
– Eigen Foundation (@eigenfoundation) April 29, 2024
The tokenomics of EigenLayer’s EIGEN token were presented as follows (by % allocated):
- Community: 45% (Stakedrops: 15%, future community initiatives: 15%, ecosystem development: 15%);
- Investors: 29.5%;
- First-time contributors: 25.5%.
And it’s precisely this distribution model that’s causing a stir: many people have complained that the community has been neglected, with only 15% of a total of 1.7 billion EIGEN tokens eventually distributed.
EIGEN tokens allocated to investors and early contributors will be subject to a 3-year lock-in period. More precisely, the tokens will be fully locked in the first year, then paid out gradually over the following 2 years (4% of tokens allocated paid out monthly). In addition, EigenLayer forecasts annual inflation of 5% for the next few years.
Distribution of EIGEN tokens over the next few years according to EigenLayer
Another element concerning the distribution of EIGEN tokens has also offended many: they will be non-transferable following the claim. However, EigenLayer has made it clear that it will be possible to stake them directly on the EigenDA operator, and that other AVSs will soon be available for this purpose.
Finally, many regions around the globe have been excluded from airdrop, including the USA, Canada, Russia and China.
As some observers have pointed out, this measure was taken despite the fact that citizens of these countries were never prohibited from using the EigenLayer restaking protocol, nor were they warned that geographic restrictions would apply when airdrop was distributed.
EigenLayer sets the record straight
This lunchtime, the Eigen Foundation clarified the situation following feedback from the community.
Contrary to what has been said on social networks, users of certain protocols such as Pendle will not be penalized. It’s worth noting that since these rumours, the price of the PENDLE token has fallen by more than 17%.
https://twitter.com/eigenfoundation/status/1785069650822250616
This type of smart contract, which is therefore not considered native restaking, will indeed be taken into account for the airdrop of EIGEN tokens, but only in phase 2. While phase 1 comprises 4.54% of the initial EIGEN token offer (75.91 million tokens), phase 2 represents 0.46% (7.77 million tokens).
” […] these DeFi contracts have not been penalized. They have been treated in the same way as individual users and will collectively receive the same allocation as if the contract were an individual user.
Furthermore, according to the press release, protocols offering Liquid Restaking Tokens (LRT) will themselves have to provide their respective user lists to EigenLayer so that the latter’s allocations can be calculated.
Further information should be communicated to the users concerned from the week of Monday May 6.
How to claim your EIGEN tokens if you are eligible?
As we said earlier, only users qualified for Phase 1 of Season 1 can check their eligibility for the EigenLayer stakedrop at the moment. If this applies to you, you can verify your address on the dedicated Eigen Foundation page.
Note that all you have to do here is enter your address without having to connect your wallet, so be sure to check which sites you’re interacting with during airdrop periods.
According to the blog post published by EigenLayer, the snapshot to determine who would be eligible to airdrop EIGEN tokens was taken on March 15. The snapshot was taken on the basis of various criteria, including the period over which users have used EigenLayer’s restaking service.
It remains to be seen whether EigenLayer’s TVL will soon be affected by these dissatisfactions. According to the latest press release from the Eigen Foundation, further distributions will take place, so it’s possible that a significant proportion of those using restaking will want to take advantage of future airdrops.
