The Biggest Airdrop of All Time is Coming Soon?
The Biggest Airdrop of All Time is Coming Soon?
PLUS: Is $ETH Dead?
👋🏽 Hello everyone, gm gm, WELCOME BACK to another edition of the Overpriced JPEGs newsletter!
Today, we’re talking about EigenLayer, a data availability protocol that is helping speed up transactions on Ethereum, and how you can farm an EigenLayer airdrop.
What you’ll read below is a newsletter published by Kyle Reidhead from Web3 Academy, who have joined up with us to write + curate in-depth, quality content directly in your inbox!
As always, if you enjoy this one, let us know by replying to this email! Let’s get into it.
Everyone on Crypto Twitter is calling for the death of Ethereum.
It’s absolutely hilarious – it gives me the same vibes like back in January when everyone called the death of Solana. 😅
When that happened, I shared my thoughts on why Solana was far from dead & likely to come back very soon. You can read all of that here – it’s free content.
Anyway, amidst all of the noise, potentially one of the biggest things to ever happen on Ethereum is happening right now.
Meet EigenLayer – a highly complicated and technical protocol that has potential to make $ETH the most important asset in the world.
I’ll do my best to explain it in simple terms below…
The reason this is newsworthy right now is that EigenLayer just released Restaked Rollups – enabling Ethereum validators to secure multiple applications, boosting Ethereum's scalability and efficiency.
This is absolutely massive for Ethereum and I think you should care because a massive airdrop could be coming soon too.
One that could be bigger than $ARB ($1.5 billion) and $ENS ($1 billion). 🤯
Keep reading until the end – I’ll also tell you whether or not $ETH is dead. LFG. ⏬
EigenLayer – Here to Accelerate Ethereum 🚀
Ethereum is like a bustling city full of activity, where transactions create congestion, slowing things down and raising costs, similar to a traffic jam.
To alleviate this, Ethereum uses Layer 2 solutions (like Arbitrum, Optimism, Base), which act as additional lanes to efficiently handle the traffic of transactions.
These L2s process transactions off the main Ethereum 'highway' and then summarize them back onto it, helping to speed up processing.
However, Ethereum still faces challenges with achieving desired speed and keeping costs low, as transaction fees remain high across the ecosystem.
The reason? It all comes down to data availability – there’s only so much blockspace on Ethereum that can be used to store data.
As data availability shrinks, costs rise & the network slows down.
Here’s where data availability protocols like EigenLayerDA and Celestia come in…
These help Ethereum scale by storing transaction data more efficiently, either off-chain or in a specialized layer.
This reduces Ethereum's load, enabling faster and cheaper transactions, thereby enhancing its capacity to handle more activities.
With the recent launch of Restaked Rollups, EigenLayer aims to scale Ethereum even further, while onboarding various applications to Ethereum.
Let me explain…
In short, the goal of EigenLayer’s Restaked Rollups is to enable $ETH validators to provide Ethereum’s security and decentralization to any application (even those outside of the Ethereum ecosystem).
To achieve this, EigenLayer launched “Restaked Rollups," developed in collaboration with AltLayer.
These aim to leverage staked $ETH to provide security for various applications and enhance the scalability of Ethereum.
Here’s how it works.
Firstly, EigenLayer allows validators (people that stake $ETH) to use their holdings to secure EigenLayer Rollups.
Secondly, EigenLayer allows developers to create their own customized Rollups for their specific applications.
What this means:
Anyone can create a Rollup specifically for their application, forming an efficient, secure mini-network that meets the app's unique needs.
This integration not only keeps the app within the broader Ethereum ecosystem but also ensures lower costs and faster settlement, as the Rollup is secured by Ethereum.
Remember, the lower costs and fast settlements are enabled by EigenLayer’s data availability, hence why anybody in the world can create their mini-network (Rollup) without causing congestion to Ethereum.
ThreeSo: An Example 🤳
Imagine creating "ThreeSo" – a decentralized social media platform.
To handle its many user interactions (like posting and commenting) efficiently and cost-effectively, you decide to use a specific Rollup dedicated to ThreeSo.
This Rollup processes transactions off the main Ethereum chain, then summarizes and sends them back to Ethereum.
By incorporating EigenLayer's "Restaked Rollups," people who stake $ETH, can now delegate their staked $ETH to support the security of your ThreeSo Rollup.
This means your platform operates smoothly without overloading the Ethereum network and benefits from Ethereum's security and trust.
The result is a scalable, efficient social media platform that leverages Ethereum's strengths without contributing to congestion, offering a practical and enhanced user experience.
All powered by $ETH.Imagine if $ETH powers the Ethereum network, tens of L2s, hundreds of protocols and millions of apps at the same time.
That would certainly make $ETH the most important asset in the world.
But let’s see what happens… In the meantime, here’s how you can capitalize on this opportunity.
P.S- If you’re seeing ‘eth/acc’ all over your X feed, just know it means ‘accelerate Ethereum’ – don’t worry, I was confused at first too. 😂
The Biggest Airdrop Ever? 🎈
I think that an EigenLayer airdrop is coming. Here’s why:
A token would make sense to decentralize the protocol
EigenLayer has already implemented a points reward system
Celestia, one of EigenLayer’s main competitors, recently launched the $TIA token – which was very successful.
To qualify for a potential EigenLayer airdrop, you most likely need to re-stake your staked $ETH via EigenLayer – I did this recently.
By doing this, you’re essentially using your staked $ETH to support new Rollups, as explained above.
Just 48h after announcing ‘Restaked Rollups’, users re-staked a total of $1 billion. 🤯
Could this be the biggest airdrop ever? Even bigger than Aribtrum’s $1.5 billion or ENS’ $1 billion?
Maybe… Celestia is now worth $1.8 billion and over $12 billion in FDV. It’s not impossible for EigenLayer to drop at least $1.5 billion right out of the gate but we’ll see & keep you posted.
Wrapping Up – Is $ETH Dead? 💀
No. $ETH is not dead! Yet, people are calling for Ethereum to drop to $650.
And for Solana to flip Ethereum.
Neither of these things will happen.
Solana might flip Ethereum but I can’t see that happening within the next 5 years at least.
There’s 2 things happening right now.
Firstly, people are losing their patience.
$ETH has been the slowest horse in the race. Almost every other token has outperformed $ETH.
With everything else pumping, people are looking to make their gains elsewhere. But there’s no chance in the world that $ETH stagnates forever, while everything else goes up.
It’s just a matter of time until $ETH gets its time as well.
Selling now to chase other pumps would be a big mistake.
Secondly, people complain that the chain is too slow and expensive.
Fair. However, Ethereum’s EIP-4844 upgrade is coming early 2024.
EIP-4844 aims to introduce "proto-danksharding," a method to significantly lower transaction fees and increase network capacity by temporarily storing some transaction data off the main Ethereum chain.
This update will lower gas fees on both mainnet and L2s by orders of magnitude, making onchain transactions much more efficient.
To wrap up, there’s no reason to be bearish on $ETH right now, let alone call its death.
In fact, everyone being against $ETH right now is a bullish signal to me.
I think it’s just a matter of time until $ETH gets its moment. As it does, it’ll melt faces, just like Solana did in the past 3 months. 🫠
If you’re bullish on $ETH, let me know by replying to this email.
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and not financial advice. Conduct your own research and consult a financial advisor before making investment decisions or taking any action based on the content.