The EIGEN token will be used to form consensus around data that is off-chain but easily verifiable, such as whether someone won a bet or adequately stored data.
The Ethereum staking protocol Eigenlayer released a white paper on April 29 for its proposed new token, EIGEN. The token will be used for apps that rely on intersubjective agreement, such as prediction markets, storage services, and gaming virtual machines, the white paper stated. Several jurisdictions, including the United States and Canada, will be excluded from the upcoming airdrop.
Eigenlayer is a blockchain network that uses staked Ether (ETH) as its native coin. Users who have staked Ether on Ethereum can “restake” it to Eigenlayer and earn additional staking rewards by validating transactions on both networks. The developers claim that this solution is more secure than using a separate token, as it allows Eigenlayer to inherit the security of Ethereum instead of needing to build trust from the ground up.
According to the new white paper, staked Ether will continue to be used to form consensus around data that is verifiable on-chain, such as the validity of transactions.