Ethereum restaking protocol EigenLayer is just hours away from unlocking its native Token Lockup , EIGEN, and Derivative markets hint at an optimistic launch, according to trading data from decentralized exchanges.
EigenLayer's native Token has been non-transferable since its launch in May, but perpetual Futures Contract related to EIGEN—or “perps”—are pointing to a price of around $4 per Token, according to data from exchanges Aevo and Hyperliquid .
“The most likely scenario is that the Airdrop will sell and push the price down a bit, but I think there will be a lot of people interested in buying $EIGEN cheaply for the rest of this cycle,” Aylo, the anonymous founder of Alpha Please, said in a September 30 post on the X platform.
EIGEN perps prices increased steadily in September. Source: Aevo
The Token is expected to be unlocked at 5:00 AM UTC on October 1. It will begin trading on centralized exchanges (CEX), including Binance and Bitfinex , shortly thereafter.
With a total supply of 1.67 billion, EIGEN's Fully Diluted Value is expected to exceed $6.7 billion. There are currently approximately 200 million EIGEN Token in circulation.
EIGEN perks on Aevo and Hyperliquid have been steadily rising since early September, nearly doubling from a low of around $2 per Token. The combined 24-hour volume of Aevo and Hyperliquid is around $1 million, which may not be a full reflection of market sentiment.
The perps market is consistent with EIGEN’s price in over-the-counter (OTC) trades, which reportedly rose from around $2 in August to nearly $3.50 as recently as September 24, according to a person familiar with the matter who spoke to TinTucBitcoin. These observations are consistent with information from EigenLayer’s community forums.
Following EigenLayer's Airdrop in May, initial OTC trades valued EIGEN as high as $10 per Token, the person said.
TVL of EigenLayer. Source: defillama
Token holders will benefit as more protocols begin paying EigenLayer re-stakers, people who deposit Token—including EIGEN—as collateral to secure other networks, or “active validation services” (AVS), in EigenLayer parlance.
As of September 30, EigenLayer held nearly $12 billion in TVL, according to defillama.
In August, EigenDA, EigenLayer's affiliate AVS, began paying restaking rewards in Ether (ETH) and EIGEN. Other AVS, including ARPA Network, are following suit.
“The last ecosystem map I saw had over 60 AVSs built on the Eigenlayer,” Aylo said, adding:
“I think ‘AWS for decentralized services’ will have a higher valuation than what the current market is suggesting.”
