EigenLayer’s EIGEN Token Unlock Goes Live With $7.2 Billion FDV

EIGEN, the native token of the Ethereum-based EigenLayer protocol, is now fully unlocked, enabling it to be traded, transferred, or staked. Following its launch, EIGEN began trading at a strong price of $4.32, which corresponds to a fully diluted value of $7.2 billion, as reported by CoinMarketCap. Binance saw 43% of the trading volume on the EIGEN/USDT pair after listing the token when it went live on October 1st.

Eigen’s Role in Expanding AVS Development

The unlocking of the EIGEN token has opened new opportunities for developers to create Actively Validated Services (AVS) within the EigenLayer ecosystem. By staking EIGEN, participants can support the growth of these services, and EigenLayer plans to introduce programmatic incentives for those actively involved. Aylo, the pseudonymous founder of Alpha Please, commented that the protocol could hold a much higher valuation than currently expected, especially as it grows as an “AWS for decentralized services.”

The EIGEN token’s unlock follows two airdrop phases. During Season 1, EigenLayer distributed 113 million EIGEN tokens to restakers. Season 2 saw 86 million tokens primarily allocated to node operators and stakers engaging with the protocol. This token distribution helped EigenLayer attract significant attention, with its Total Value Locked (TVL) peaking at nearly $20 billion in June. However, TVL has since decreased to around $12 billion, partly due to users withdrawing their funds after receiving airdrop rewards.

A report that sparked controversy suggested that Eigen Labs had shared employee wallet addresses with ecosystem projects planning token airdrops. In response, EigenLayer issued a statement denying any wrongdoing, affirming that it had “no knowledge or evidence” of employees pressuring any projects for undue benefits during the airdrop process.

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