The largest Ethereum restaking protocol, EigenLayer, has encountered more than 12,000 withdrawal requests amid disappointment surrounding its planned EIGEN token airdrop. The withdrawal requests began on April 29, with daily numbers reaching over 4,000 and escalating to 6,496 by April 30. Approximately 11.6% of unique depositors have withdrawn from the protocol, impacting EigenLayer's total value locked (TVL) which now stands at around $13 billion.
With EigenLayer implementing a seven-day withdrawal processing period, the effects of these mass withdrawals will only materialize in the coming weeks. Restrictions on participants from key economic regions for the EIGEN airdrop have raised concerns, as these users likely played a significant role in contributing to EigenLayer's TVL. The exclusion of these regions might result in a decline in TVL, especially if these users were actively restaking their assets.
There is a growing interest among airdrop farmers to explore alternative restaking protocols following the disappointing EIGEN airdrop incident. EigenLayer's TVL has dipped by over 4% in the past week, while Karak's TVL has soared by 20.5% to $439 million, positioning it as the second-largest restaking protocol on Ethereum. Speculation has arisen that Karak has the potential to become the next dominant player in this space, given its unique technical features like multi-asset restaking and a developer-friendly environment.
