When you stake ETH on Ethereum, you’re helping secure the network. But EigenLayer, a protocol that lets stakers reuse their locked ETH to secure other blockchains and apps. Also known as restaking, it turns your staked ETH into a shared security tool for dozens of new projects. Before EigenLayer, staking was a one-way street: lock your ETH, earn rewards, and that’s it. Now, that same ETH can also help protect services like decentralized oracles, bridge protocols, and custom rollups — all without needing new tokens or extra capital.
Think of it like renting out your car not just to drive yourself, but to let others use it for deliveries, rides, or even emergency transport. EigenLayer does this with crypto security. Projects like Chainlink, LayerZero, and Akash pay stakers in ETH or their own tokens to use the trust already built into Ethereum’s proof-of-stake system. That means less risk for new apps, and more rewards for you. But it’s not free. If one of those apps gets hacked, your staked ETH could be slashed. That’s the trade-off: higher returns, but more responsibility.
Restaking isn’t just a technical upgrade — it’s a shift in how crypto infrastructure works. Instead of every new project building its own security from scratch, they tap into Ethereum’s massive, battle-tested network. That’s why EigenLayer is often called the backbone of the next wave of DeFi. It’s not a coin you buy. It’s a system you join by staking ETH. And as more protocols integrate with it, the value of being a staker grows — but so does the risk. The posts below show real cases: how restaking affects token prices, what happens when a linked protocol fails, and which services are actually using EigenLayer today. You’ll see why some call it the future, and why others warn it’s too risky to touch.
Crypto restaking lets you earn extra rewards by using your staked ETH to secure other protocols. While yields can jump 20-50%, you also face compounded slashing risks. Understand the trade-offs before you start.
