Venture capital giant Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) has thrown its weight behind the Ethereum restaking project EigenLayer, investing $100 million in a Series B funding round.
Venture capital giant Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) has thrown its weight behind the Ethereum restaking project EigenLayer, investing $100 million in a Series B funding round. This move comes despite a significant decline in venture funding within the crypto space.
EigenLayer, led by founder Sreeram Kannan, aims to unlock new possibilities for innovation on the Ethereum network through its restaking protocol. This platform allows users to re-stake their Ethereum holdings in multiple ways, boosting the security of other protocols while earning rewards. Previously, EigenLayer secured $50 million in a Series A round led by Blockchain Capital. However, this latest investment from a16z highlights the firm's confidence in EigenLayer's potential.
Ali Yahya, General Partner at a16z crypto, emphasizes their excitement to "build a platform that unlocks a new dimension of open innovation on top of Ethereum." He believes EigenLayer can significantly accelerate the development of innovative technologies like novel consensus mechanisms, decentralized oracles, and specialized hardware networks.
EigenLayer's protocol has already seen traction, with its initial phase launching on the Ethereum mainnet in June 2023. It currently supports various liquid staking tokens (LSTs) from leading projects like Lido, Rocket Pool, and Coinbase. As of now, the total value locked (TVL) on EigenLayer is nearing $8 billion, demonstrating its growing adoption within the DeFi ecosystem.
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