EigenLayer Review
The restaking layer itself, opt-in slashing stated
of 10
EigenLayer is the restaking protocol most others here build on. It documents opt-in slashing, live since April 2025, a 14-day withdrawal delay, and that natively restaked ETH is permanently locked in EigenPods when slashed. Its docs were largely blocked, so several facts came via search extraction.
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Type
Restaking protocol; no LRT of its own
Slashing
Opt-in, live since April 2025; native ETH permanently locked when slashed
Withdrawal
14 days after queuing
Fee
Not stated
Licence
BUSL-1.1, change date 19 Jul 2026 to GPL-2.0-or-later
Scores
Each criterion carries equal weight. The overall score is the average of these 5 scores — (2.0 + 7.0 + 7.0 + 5.0 + 2.0) ÷ 5 = 4.6.
Pros
- Slashing documented as opt-in, live on mainnet since the April 2025 ELIP-002 upgrade
- States plainly that natively restaked ETH cannot be redistributed and is permanently locked in EigenPod contracts when slashed
- Withdrawal delay stated at 14 days after queuing
- Business Source License 1.1, converting to GPL v2-or-later on 19 July 2026
Cons
- No fee figure was found on any reachable page
- The documentation site returned 403 on every direct fetch, so most facts came via search extraction
- No audit record could be verified from a fetched official page
- It issues no LRT itself; restakers deposit LSTs or native ETH for delegated shares
The layer underneath the category
Most protocols in this comparison restake into EigenLayer. It issues no liquid token itself: restakers deposit liquid staking tokens or native ETH through EigenPods and receive delegated shares, which operators point at Actively Validated Services — the oracles, bridges and data layers being secured.
Slashing, stated bluntly
EigenLayer documents that slashing went live on mainnet through the April 2025 ELIP-002 upgrade, that it is opt-in, and — the sentence that matters — that natively restaked ETH cannot be redistributed and remains permanently locked in EigenPod contracts when slashed. That is exactly the kind of blunt risk statement this rubric rewards.
The verification problem
The documentation site returned 403 on every direct fetch, so the slashing, withdrawal and AVS facts here came through search extraction of EigenLayer's own pages rather than a clean read, and no fee figure or audit record could be confirmed. The licence was read directly from the repository. The review scores what could be verified and flags the rest.
How it compares
Eigenpie (mLRT)
Isolated per-LST restaking, little else documented
Karak
Nine-day withdrawal with a slashing window, docs blocked
Symbiotic
Twelve named auditors and a stated risk framework
Swell Restaking (rswETH)
Value-accruing rswETH, no licence file
Kelp DAO (rsETH)
10% fee and a delayed-open licence
ether.fi (eETH / weETH)
MIT-licensed, three-way reward split published
YieldNest (ynETH)
BSD-licensed with slashing stated plainly
Mellow
Six named auditors on a Symbiotic-and-EigenLayer vault
Renzo (ezETH)
Fee split and withdrawal delays published in full
Sources
Scored from published primary sources rather than hands-on use. Every figure above comes from one of the pages below, on the date shown. Manufacturers change prices and specifications without notice — if something here no longer matches the source, tell us and we will correct it.
Frequently asked questions
What happens to restaked ETH if it is slashed on EigenLayer?
EigenLayer states that natively restaked ETH cannot be redistributed and remains permanently locked in EigenPod contracts when slashed.
Does EigenLayer issue a liquid restaking token?
No. Restakers deposit liquid staking tokens or native ETH through EigenPods and receive delegated shares; the liquid tokens are issued by other protocols built on top.
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