EigenLayer Raises $100M Series B Led By a16z

a16z, one of the largest venture capital firms in the crypto space, has led a $100 million Series B funding round for EigenLayer, the red-hot Ethereum restaking protocol.

EigenLayer aims to extend Ethereum’s cryptoeconomic security to other projects.

The idea is that this will make it easier for new crypto projects to start because they won’t need to bootstrap a blockchain or validator set. Users who restake ETH through EigenLayer stand to earn yield from validating these new services.

a16z’s investment attests to an increased belief in EigenLayer’s potential impact on the crypto space. The protocol has already attracted $7.8 billion in total value locked (TVL), making it the fourth largest protocol in DeFi.

Ali Yahya, general partner at a16z crypto, praised Sreeram Kannan, EigenLayer’s founder, in a post announcing the raise — “[he is] not only brilliant, but also fundamentally motivated by a vision of the future so crisp and compelling that it momentarily becomes real when you talk to him.”

EigenLayer isn’t without its skeptics. Vitalik Buterin, Ethereum’s co-founder, has warned that if Ethereum’s security becomes overextended, it could threaten the protocol’s credible neutrality.

EigenLayer previously raised a $50 million Series A in 2023 after a $14.4 million seed round in 2022.