Author: Haotian (X: @tme l0 211)

Recently, dozens of Restaking solutions have emerged, causing a heated market competition. The scene is much more lively compared to the previous Staking battles involving Lido, RockX, SSV, and others. The battle has shifted from the "technical strength" of lowering the 32ETH threshold for node services to the current "operational strategy" competition for Eigenlayer points. One of the typical examples is @KelpDAO, which managed to reach the TVL Top3 solely through the battle for points. How did they achieve this?

In the first phase, due to @Eigenlayer's suspension of re-staking business, market users were unable to participate directly in staking for a long time. Eigenlayer introduced a transparent point airdrop mechanism, providing an "opportunity window" for KelpDAO and other latecomers to compete for market users. KelpDAO's treasury redistributed the points obtained from Eigenlayer to the users.

Users staking ETHx, stETH, and sfrxETH on @KelpDAO could not only earn Kelp Miles points but also obtain EL Points provided by Eigenlayer. In this phase, a total of 49K ETHx participated in obtaining Eigenlayer points.

In the second phase, Eigenlayer fully opened its Restaking business and removed the staking fund limit. It was expected that this would render the point battle strategies of KelpDAO and others ineffective, as users could directly participate in Eigenlayer to obtain points, reducing the demand for other competing platforms. Unexpectedly, @KelpDAO introduced the EigenBoost 2.0 strategy to respond urgently:

1) Users staking ETHx could receive an additional 1 million EL points, with an additional 50 EL points for each ETHx deposited.

2) Users could mint LST into rsETH to provide liquidity to the market. Each successful minting of 1 rsETH on the Stader platform would earn the user 100K Kelp Miles. This liquidity of rsETH would not go to waste, as users could deposit it into Pendle and enjoy a 30% APY return.

The interesting part is that although Eigenlayer opened the window, not everyone can obtain the 720 points. More small-scale funds may choose to flow through KelpDAO, achieving a "one fish, multiple meals" scenario. After all, if Eigenlayer's points fail, KelpDAO provides a safety net.

Especially, @KelpDAO has grown to a psychological safety threshold of over 3 billion US dollars, which will definitely attract a large amount of idle funds.

The strong will become stronger. If Eigenlayer removed the staking limit to reclaim users attracted by other Restaking projects, then KelpDAO's enhanced point operation strategy is a powerful counterattack. Indeed, after the transparent competition for Eigenlayer points, the psychology of "one fish, multiple meals" becomes crucial.

If asked about the security risks of the overly intense competition in the Restaking track, I have three shallow insights:

1) Eigenlayer's brand and reputation are the fundamentals of the Restaking track. Due to its imperfect AVS and node Slash mechanism, the only security carrier is Eigenlayer's own smart contract. If a large number of retail investors fomo into Eigenlayer, the risk will be greater. Any minor issue could lead to a run on the platform. Based on this, I believe that platforms like KelpDAO, which are more institutionalized, will help to spread and reduce the potential security risks of Eigenlayer's dominance.

2) Although third-party platforms may seem to have Rug risks, the points obtained by users are not generated out of thin air; Eigenlayer holds the trump card for such platforms. For a platform to gain a decent share in the intense market, the opportunity cost of Rug is also high. In addition to considering the scale of funds restrained by Eigenlayer, the cost of market operations and maintenance is also not small. Optimistically, compared to the potential security risks of a single Eigenlayer contract, the dispersion of funds from third-party platforms will actually reduce the overall systemic risk, provided that the platform has accumulated market brand and reputation over a period of time.

3) With Eigenlayer's current fund size, the likelihood of idle funds participating in obtaining points and capturing airdrop opportunities is decreasing. More funds flowing in will only increase the threshold for the safety net points. At this point, the points obtained by third-party platforms using large funds indeed provide a "one fish, multiple meals" opportunity for retail investors.

Note: The above views are for reference only. Regardless, it is important to be cautious about participating in Restaking, which is a "leveraged" liquidity play. After all, the overall situation is not stable. Please participate rationally and moderately, and avoid blind risks.

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