Preparation for EigenLayer’s Restaking Unpause (Airdrop Opportunity 🪂)

EigenLayer announced that they’re unpausing restaking on 29th of January.

I already feel sufficiently exposed to EigenLayer’s contracts, but decided to do one last deposit. As they’re integrating new LSTs (liquid staked tokens), I spent some time evaluating which ones to use.

If unfamiliar, I recommend learning about restaking, as it’s a completely new and revolutionary narrative in the space – which usually means opportunity.

My Methodology

These are the rewards I’m trying to maximize for:

1. The staking and restaking yields themselves
2. The airdrop potential of the liquid staking provider (this is what I’ll evaluate below)
3. The airdrop potential of EigenLayer (which I’d be eligible in any case)

EigenLayer has a system where restakers accumulate “points” based on the amount and time commitment of their deposits. I expect that these points will be used for an eventual token distribution. But as it’s always the case with airdrops, there are no guarantees.

To make this an airdrop-hunting combo, I decided to evaluate the airdrop potential of all liquid staked tokens that can be restaked.

This way, I would get an airdrop from the platform I’m staking with and the platform I’m restaking with (EigenLayer).

Analysis of All Available LSTs on EigenLayer

➤ $wBETH, $cbETH – I’m not even considering these (Binance and Coinbase staked $ETH – not my cup of tea).

➤ $stETH, $rETH – Lido and RocketPool are the OGs in the liquid staking space, but there’s no potential for extra rewards besides the 2-4% yield.

➤ $ETHx, $osETH, $LsETH, $sfrxETH, $ankrETH – couldn’t find evidence that any of these might lead to airdrops for stakers in the future. No point systems, no mention of “decentralizing governance”.

➤ $oETH – same as the previous ones, but I put it in a separate bullet point because I like OriginProtocol‘s “proof of yield” approach. It’s like an ETF – they diversify the deposits across other liquid staking providers (some of which are part of this list). But their governance token is already out and couldn’t find evidence for a distribution.

➤ $mETH – highest yield (7%+), but not sure if it’s an airdrop worthy opportunity if not held on the Mantle network but on Ethereum mainnet. However, if you don’t care about rewards beyond the yield, this might be the best option for you.

➤ $swETH – the only liquid staked $ETH that has a points system and a potential extra reward (airdrop) beyond the yield. 

Conclusion

I think I’ll choose Swell Network‘s $swETH for my restaking once again.

In their docs, they mention an upcoming launch of their $SWELL token. And their amount-and-time-weighted point system (similar to EigenLayer’s actually) implies that a part of it might be distributed across stakers based on accumulated points.

Which LST would you choose?

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