EigenLayer’s biggest node operator promises revenue-sharing

Plus, crypto VC funding in Q3 is still lagging

article-image

CryptoFX/Shutterstock modified by Blockworks

share


Today, enjoy the 0xResearch newsletter on Blockworks.co. Tomorrow, get the news delivered directly to your inbox. Subscribe to the 0xResearch newsletter


Here’s a simplified explanation of how restaking works today: 

  1. Bob deposits ETH/stETH into a liquid restaking protocol like Ether.Fi, Puffer, Eigenpie or Renzo.
  2. The liquid restaking protocol delegates Bob’s assets to an EigenLayer operator.
  3. The EigenLayer operator uses Bob’s asset to secure one or many AVSs to return some yield to Bob.
  4. Bob is happy because his ETH is a yield-bearing productive asset, and he enjoys a liquid ETH derivative that he can use to dabble in other degenerate DeFi activities.

About 299 active EigenLayer operators compete for $11.2 billion in TVL in EigenLayer, so competition is pretty stiff.

EigenLayer operators compete for user attention in one of many ways. 

Technical competency is one obvious factor, namely keeping a consistent uptime and fulfilling specific responsibilities for the AVSs they validate.

Operators also try to validate as many AVSs as they can so as to compound yield returns to users (and slashing risks), or promise to share any potential airdrops with delegators. You can see many such explicit advertisements on the EigenLayer operator page.

Source: EigenLayer

Another way that EigenLayer operators could compete, of course, is to simply promise more of their cut to delegators. That has not been the case, until today.

P2P.org, the largest EigenLayer operator by total ETH restaked (at 274,000 ETH), announced Wednesday that it would launch revenue distribution to users delegating ETH to them.

As part of a “new structure [to] reward long-term trust and engagement,” all delegators staking with P2P.org prior to Aug. 15 will be eligible for the revenue share.

It’s a bold move — and not one you’d typically expect from a leader at the top.

It’s not clear how much revenue that actually translates into for P2P.org delegators, but here’s some napkin math from Blockworks Research Analyst Marc Arjoon.

Loading Tweet..

P2P has about 274,000 ETH and 8.53 million EIGEN staked on EigenLayer across ~8k stakers.

As part of its “programmatic incentives” program, EigenLayer is allocating 67 million EIGEN through the first year, with 3/4 going to ETH stakers and another 1/4 to EIGEN stakers and operators.

For P2P, that comes up to about ~3.63 million of EIGEN incentives (worth $12 million today).

Assuming today’s EIGEN price of $3.3, each staker would receive about $1,500, excluding any AVS yield.

Not a bad reward.

Chart of the Day

Crypto VC funding still lagging:

1 - crypto deal count capital invested2
Source: Galaxy Research

According to Galaxy Research, crypto venture capital funds invested about $2.4 billion across 478 deals in Q3 2024. That’s 20% capital invested and 17% fewer deals than the previous quarter. 

Within Q3, companies in the “trading/exchange/investing/lending” category raised the most, at $462 million. Cryptospherex and Figure markets raised $200 million and $73.3 million, respectively. 

In a sign that the L1 trade isn’t going away, the second-largest raise came from L1 projects — about $341 million in total.


Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:

  • Blockworks Daily: The newsletter that helps thousands of investors understand crypto and the markets, by Byron Gilliam.
  • Empire: Start your morning with the top news and analysis to inform your day in crypto.
  • Forward Guidance: Reporting and analysis on the growing intersection of crypto and macroeconomics, policy and finance.
  • 0xResearch: Alpha directly in your inbox. Market highlights, data, degen trade ideas, governance updates, token performance and more.
  • Lightspeed: Built for Solana investors, developers and community members. The latest from one of crypto’s hottest networks.
  • The Drop: For crypto collectors and traders, covering apps, games, memes and more.
  • Supply Shock: Tracking Bitcoin’s rise from internet plaything worth less than a penny to global phenomenon disrupting money as we know it.
Tags

Upcoming Events

Industry City | Brooklyn, NY

TUES - THURS, JUNE 24 - 26, 2025

Permissionless IV serves as the definitive gathering for crypto’s technical founders, developers, and builders to come together and create the future.If you’re ready to shape the future of crypto, Permissionless IV is where it happens.

Old Billingsgate

Mon - Wed, October 13 - 15, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

recent research

Research Report Templates.jpg

Research

Bluefin possibly stands at an inflection point. The token is near an all-time low yet the protocol’s spot volume market share and derivatives exchange usage have been increasing month over month since its November launch. Given its current market position and the upcoming upgrades (for both Bluefin and SUI), there may be upside potential before the increased supply growth in December. However, strong opposition from existing competitors (like Cetus and Suilend), as well as new entrants (like Aftermath), pose key challenges to Bluefin’s medium-term success.

article-image

Ross Ulbricht was a freedom maximalist building freedom tech, powered by Bitcoin

article-image

Solana validators can reap benefits including payments, votes and community clout

article-image

Sponsored

WalletConnect is cementing itself as the essential connectivity layer, ensuring wallets remain the entry point for billions of users

article-image

According to a legal filing, Galaxy Digital helped boost the price of LUNA while quietly selling its tokens

article-image

Tech fund portfolio manager Dominic Rizzo calls stablecoins “the most obvious use case for crypto”

article-image

Institutional players are energized by huge market shifts, “the scale of which you haven’t even imagined”