EigenLayer Foundation Announces Season 2 EIGEN Coin Airdrop

The EigenLayer Foundation has confirmed that its Season 2 EIGEN coin airdrop will go live on or before September 17. This second phase of the airdrop aims to reward stakers, operators, ecosystem partners, and other key participants within the EigenLayer ecosystem.

EigenLayer, built on Ethereum, is a protocol that allows users to restake their liquid staking tokens (LSTs) such as stETH (Lido), rETH (Rocket Pool), cbETH (Coinbase), and others. By doing so, they contribute to enhancing the security and decentralization of decentralized applications (dApps) and rollups within the network. 

EigenLayer’s restaking model enables participants to tap into the pooled security without the need to build new validator networks from scratch. Operators play a crucial role by validating these dApps and rollups. They potentially earn higher rewards but also facing slashing risks if they act maliciously or do not maintain their commitments.

Details of EigenLayer Coin Airdrop and Future Plans

According to the announcement, the Eigen Token airdrop will utilize specific metrics to determine the distribution of rewards. For stakers and operators, factors such as ETH-hours, the amount of EIGEN staked, and weighted delegated-ETH-hours will be considered to calculate the rewards. 

Apart from the stakers and operators, the EigenLayer is also acknowledging the contributions of various ecosystem partners such as AVSs, LRTs, Rollups, and RaaS providers.

Community members who have been involved with EigenLayer since its inception will also be eligible for the airdrop. Categories for rewards include open-source contributors, Twitter and Discord participants, podcast creators, and analysts, among others. The foundation has outlined specific allocations for each category to ensure equitable distribution based on their level of contribution.

Additionally, the foundation is preparing a programmatic incentives program to provide ongoing rewards post-Season 2. To check eligibility for the airdrop, participants need to verify their social accounts.

The first phase of the EigenLayer token airdrop started in May, distributing 5% of the initial token supply. These Eigen coins are non-transferable initially to prevent rapid sell-offs and ensure long-term engagement. The second phase aims to distribute rewards to users who had more complex interactions with liquid restaking tokens (LRTs).

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