EigenLabs(EigenLayer)

Seattle-based EigenLabs was founded in 2021 to address the issue that it's difficult to improve blockchain infrastructure without launching a new blockchain and the so-called trust network that offers security for the chain. EigenLayer is a set of smart contracts on Ethereum that allows consensus layer Ether (ETH) stakers to opt in to validating new software modules built on top of the Ethereum ecosystem. Stakers opt in by granting the EigenLayer smart contracts the ability to impose additional slashing conditions on their staked ETH, allowing an extension of cryptoeconomic security. By opting in to EigenLayer, stakers can validate for many types of modules including consensus protocols, data availability layers, virtual machines, keeper networks, oracle networks, bridges, threshold cryptography schemes, and trusted execution environments. Instead of fragmenting security between modules, EigenLayer aggregates ETH security across all of them. This increases the security of the decentralized applications (dApps) that rely on the modules.