Ethereum

bullish

EigenLayer

Aevo

Ethereum restaking protocol EigenLayer is only hours away from unlocking its native token, EIGEN, and derivative markets hint at a bullish debut, according to trading data from decentralized perpetual exchanges.&nbsp;
EigenLayer’s native token has been nontransferable since launching in May, but EIGEN-linked perpetual futures — or “perps” — indicate a spot price of approximately $4 per token, according to data from exchanges <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://app.aevo.xyz/perpetual/eigen" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" text="null" title="https://app.aevo.xyz/perpetual/eigen">Aevo</a> and <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://app.hyperliquid.xyz/trade/EIGEN" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" text="null" title="https://app.hyperliquid.xyz/trade/EIGEN">Hyperliquid</a>.
“Most likely scenario is airdrop farmers dumping weighs on the price for a bit, but I think there will be a lot of interest in picking up cheap EIGEN for the rest of the cycle,” Aylo, pseudonymous founder of Alpha Please, said in a Sept. 30 <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://x.com/alpha_pls/status/1840729149725450726" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">post</a> on the X platform.
<figure>
 <img alt="EigenLayer’s EIGEN token unlock looms, futures tip a $6.8B FDV" name="" src="https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2024-09/019243f1-c767-70f4-90e3-bf2069eaeda9">
 <figcaption style="text-align: center;">
 EIGEN perps steadily climbed in September. Source: Aevo
 </figcaption>
</figure>
Related: <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/restaking-will-spark-next-big-rush-money-into-crypto" rel="" target="_self" text="null" title="https://cointelegraph.com/news/restaking-will-spark-next-big-rush-money-into-crypto">Restaking will spark the next big rush of money into crypto</a>
The token is scheduled to unlock at 5:00 am UTC on Oct. 1. It will start trading on centralized exchanges (CEXs), including <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://www.binance.com/en/support/announcement/binance-will-list-eigenlayer-eigen-with-seed-tag-applied-29494a3db1034233b65522b9e122d079?hl=en" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" text="null" title="https://www.binance.com/en/support/announcement/binance-will-list-eigenlayer-eigen-with-seed-tag-applied-29494a3db1034233b65522b9e122d079?hl=en">Binance</a> and <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://blog.bitfinex.com/media-releases/bitfinex-among-first-to-list-eigen-native-token-of-eigenlayer/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" text="null" title="https://blog.bitfinex.com/media-releases/bitfinex-among-first-to-list-eigen-native-token-of-eigenlayer/">Bitfinex</a>, shortly after.&nbsp;
With a total supply of 1.67 billion, EIGEN’s fully diluted value (FDV) is on track to exceed $6.7 billion. Approximately 200 million EIGEN tokens are in circulation.
The price of EIGEN perps on Aevo and Hyperliquid has steadily climbed since early September, nearly doubling from lows of around $2 per token.&nbsp;Aevo and Hyperliquid’s 24-hour trading volume adds up to around $1 million, possibly insufficient to fully reflect market dynamics. 
The perps market squares with EIGEN’s price in informal over-the-counter (OTC) trades, which purportedly rose from around $2 in August to roughly $3.50 as recently as Sept. 24, a person familiar with the matter told Cointelegraph. These comments are consistent with information from EigenLayer’s community forums.&nbsp;
Following EigenLayer’s May airdrop, early OTC trades initially priced EIGEN as high as $10 per token, the person said.&nbsp;
<figure>
 <img alt="EigenLayer’s EIGEN token unlock looms, futures tip a $6.8B FDV" name="" src="https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2024-09/019243f4-a3c1-7f86-8b51-7d0658c8b3fb">
 <figcaption style="text-align: center;">
 EigenLayer’s TVL. Source: DefiLlama
 </figcaption>
</figure>
Tokenholders stand to benefit as more protocols start paying EigenLayer’s restakers, who deposit tokens — including EIGEN — as collateral to secure other networks, or “actively validated services” (AVS), in EigenLayer’s parlance.
As of Sept. 30, EigenLayer commanded nearly $12 billion in total value locked (TVL), <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://defillama.com/protocol/eigenlayer#information" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">according</a> to DefiLlama.
In August, EigenDA, EigenLayer’s affiliated AVS, started paying restakers in Ether (<a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/ethereum-price" rel="" target="_self" text="null" title="https://cointelegraph.com/ethereum-price">ETH</a>) and EIGEN rewards. Other AVS, including Arpa Network, are <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/eigenlayer-avs-arpa-launch-native-restaking-rewards-september" rel="" target="_self" text="null" title="https://cointelegraph.com/news/eigenlayer-avs-arpa-launch-native-restaking-rewards-september">following suit</a>.&nbsp;
“The last ecosystem map I saw had 60+ AVS building on top of Eigenlayer,” Aylo said, adding:
<blockquote>
 “I think the ‘AWS for decentralized services’ will command a higher valuation than the pre-market is giving it currently.”
</blockquote>
Magazine: <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/magazine/whales-humpy-gaming-dao-votes-solutions/" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="https://cointelegraph.com/magazine/whales-humpy-gaming-dao-votes-solutions/">Crypto whales like Humpy are gaming DAO votes — but there are solutions</a><advertisement>
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EigenLayer’s EIGEN token unlock looms, futures tip a $6.8B FDV

Cointelegraph

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