What is Puffer (PUFFER)?

Deep Dive

1. Purpose & Value Proposition

Puffer addresses Ethereum scaling fragmentation—where increased throughput often leads to siloed liquidity and reliance on centralized sequencers. Its core thesis is to provide "Ethereum-aligned premier infrastructure and yield." The protocol vertically integrates security, sequencing, and execution layers to scale through Ethereum, not away from it, aiming to deliver faster transactions without compromising decentralization or composability.

2. Technology & Architecture

The Puffer stack is built across three interconnected layers. The Trust Layer is anchored by pufETH, a liquid restaking token (LRT) that builds a decentralized economic base through permissionless staking and restaking via EigenLayer. The Sequencing Layer features Puffer Preconf, a gateway network that uses restaked ETH to provide sub-second, slashable execution guarantees. The Execution Layer is Puffer UniFi, a based rollup that offers dedicated blockspace for appchains with same-block composability back to Ethereum L1.

3. Tokenomics & Governance

PUFFER is a pure governance token. Holders lock tokens to receive vePUFFER (an ERC-721 vote-escrow NFT), which grants voting power on key decisions like adjusting protocol parameters, curating node operators and Actively Validated Services (AVS), whitelisting new rollups, and directing treasury funds. Its utility is deliberately separated from the staking and restaking yield, which accrues to pufETH holders.

Conclusion

Puffer is fundamentally a vertically integrated infrastructure stack seeking to reinforce Ethereum's security while unlocking its scalability, with governance centrally managed through the PUFFER token. As the project progresses, a key question remains: how will the balance between decentralized permissionless participation and institutional-grade infrastructure evolve?