EigenLayer’s highly-anticipated EIGEN token airdrop has started, however, for now, users will not be able to trade the tokens they receive from it, as the project has made them non-transferable for several months.
The Eigen Foundation, a non-profit launched by Eigen Labs, opened claims for EIGEN on Friday, but the tokens will only become transferable on a yet-to-be-determined date, currently targeted for September 30th.
Decentralized exchanges like Aevo and Hyperliquid are currently valuing EIGEN at around $9 per token, with a total supply of over 1.67 billion, giving the project a potential fully diluted market capitalization of $15 billion. These exchanges allow the trading of perpetual futures contracts on EIGEN, which are futures contracts with no expiration date.
EigenLayer, a restaking service on the Ethereum blockchain, raised over $100 million from investors like Andreessen Horowitz and attracted a staggering $16 billion in user deposits onto its “pooled security” system before launching its token.
However, the token's arrival has been met with controversy, as many of EigenLayer's core features are still under development and the primary incentive for depositing funds so far hasbeen "points," a reward system users expected to be tied to the airdrop.
Last week, Eigen Labs unveiled details of EIGEN, a token intended to power the platform. The distribution plan, however, sparked criticism from point-earners as it included a lengthy non-transferability period and geographic restrictions barring residents from jurisdictions including the U.S., Canada, and China from claiming tokens, despite no such restrictions on deposits or point accumulation.
Others were disappointed that points earned through certain third-party services wouldn't be considered for the initial airdrop, despite representing a significant portion of overall deposits.
EigenLayer has responded by allocating additional tokens to some users in the first round of the airdrop.
