According to a blog post from EigenLayer, EigenDA, EigenLayer’s data availability protocol, has reduced its service prices by a factor of 10 and introduced a ‘free tier’.
EigenDA is a “data availability layer” that operates on top of EigenLayer’s Ether (ETH) re-staking platform, designed to reduce the cost of storing and accessing on-chain data for Ethereum’s Layer 2 scaling chains. The price drop comes as EigenDA works to onboard more Layer 2s to its platform, which launched in April.
According to the blog post, EigenDA’s mission is “to enrich trusted, scalable, and secure data availability (‘DA’).” “In pursuit of this goal and through scalability by design, EigenDA strives to be the most cost-effective DA solution.”
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Re-staking involves taking already staked Ether (posted as collateral to validators in exchange for rewards) from the Ethereum network and securing another protocol at the same time. According to DefiLlama, EigenLayer currently has a total locked value (TVL) of over $12 billion.
EigenDA is the first “Actively Verified Service” (AVS) launched by EigenLayer, and also the largest. According to the EigenLayer website, it is secured by approximately 3.6 million staked ETH contributed by over 133,000 stakers.
EigenLayer currently hosts over a dozen services, including eOracle and Lagrange State Committees, both of which are secured by over 2 million ETH, worth over $5 billion at current spot prices.
According to an April 9 blog post, EigenDA aims to increase data availability on Ethereum by 1,000x, enabling on-chain use cases such as fully on-chain order books, real-time gaming, social networks, and decentralized artificial intelligence (AI).
The data availability protocol is “essential to the long-term vision of EigenLayer. In order to have the ability to punish bad behavior, the protocol must have access to data related to relevant transactions,” the post reads.
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