EigenLayer

EigenLayer lets Ethereum-linked capital secure Autonomous Verifiable Services, or AVSs, in addition to Ethereum. It separates the restaker supplying economic backing, the operator running AVS software, and the AVS that defines the work and fault conditions.

Native validators and liquid-token restaking

Liquid restakers deposit supported liquid tokens, EIGEN or permissionlessly added ERC-20 strategies. Native restaking uses an Ethereum validator whose withdrawal credentials point to an EigenPod; the pod accounts for the validator's ETH and yield through checkpoint proofs.

An EigenPod belongs permanently to the address that deployed it and can receive withdrawal credentials from multiple validators. The native route is therefore for validator operators, while liquid restaking offers an entry route to holders of an available token strategy.

One delegated operator and AVS Operator Sets

A restaker delegates all available restaked balance to one operator. The operator does not receive token custody, but can allocate portions of that delegated value to AVS-defined Operator Sets. A restaker wanting another operator or AVS mix must undelegate and later redelegate rather than split the same balance across operators.

Operators opt into an Operator Set and assign delegated stake to it. That allocation becomes Unique Stake, slashable only by that set rather than simultaneously by several AVSs. AVSs can use separate sets for different hardware, liveness, business-logic or stake requirements.

AVS rewards, slashing and delayed changes

AVSs decide their service rules and fault conditions, while EigenLayer supplies registration, allocation, verification, rewards and enforcement. Operators can set a per-AVS or per-set fee split; AVS rewards may reflect work, quality, Unique Stake or delegated stake.

Increasing slashable exposure uses an operator-configured allocation delay, and deallocation and withdrawals also have delays. In redistributable sets, an executed slash can go to an immutable recipient chosen when the set is created, making the operator's active sets and each AVS's terms material to delegation.

Operator-led allocation beside Symbiotic vaults

Symbiotic is the close architectural comparison. EigenLayer puts the direct restaker in a one-operator relationship, then lets that operator allocate Unique Stake to AVS sets. Symbiotic uses single-asset vaults, where a curator and Delegator type set the collateral's limits across operators and networks.

EigenLayer is most specific to a restaker or operator prepared to choose an operator's changing AVS exposure, rather than treating restaking as one uniform yield position.