Restaking — double yield or double risk?
After Ethereum transitioned to the Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus mechanism, staking has continued to gain popularity among crypto investors.
According to Dune Analytics, more than a quarter of the total Ethereum supply is locked in staking, or nearly 35.9 million tokens. The popularity of staking stems from the fact that this mechanism allows investors to earn a regular income of about 3–4% annually.
However, the creators of the EigenLayer platform developed another mechanism called restaking, which allows users to earn additional income on top of staking.
What is restaking?
Restaking is a mechanism that allows users to stake ETH tokens that have already been placed in native staking on the Ethereum network once again.
Moreover, restaking allows not only ETH locked in staking but also so-called LST (liquid staking) tokens to be restaked. Investors receive LST tokens for depositing their assets into liquid staking* through specialized protocols such as Lido and Rocket Pool.
* Liquid staking is a way to participate in cryptocurrency staking without locking up assets. A user deposits tokens into a special protocol and receives a derivative token (LST) in return, which can be freely used: sold, transferred, or applied in DeFi. At the same time, the underlying assets continue to participate in staking and generate rewards.
The main problem of native staking* in the Ethereum network was that validators* had to lock their tokens for a certain period of time and could not use them in any other way. In other words, ETH tokens remained "frozen in the network." In addition, validators faced fairly strict requirements: staking at least 32 ETH (approximately $66,000) and specialized knowledge and tools to run a network node.
* Native staking is a mechanism for participating in securing a blockchain network by locking its own (base) cryptocurrency directly within the network protocol. A user or validator stakes native tokens, thereby demonstrating economic interest in the proper functioning of the system and receiving rewards for participating in consensus. The tokens are usually locked for a period and cannot be used freely until they are unlocked.
* Validator is a participant in a blockchain network who verifies the correctness of data and confirms it in accordance with the protocol rules. In a blockchain, validators ensure the security and integrity of the system by confirming transactions and creating new blocks. In networks using the Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus algorithm, validators deposit collateral in the blockchain's native cryptocurrency and receive rewards for participating in the network. At the same time, violations of the rules may result in penalties.
This problem was solved with the help of liquid staking protocols, which allowed users to deposit any amount of ETH tokens without a lock-up period. However, restaking protocols went a step further, enabling users to restake LST tokens themselves so investors could use their assets in the DeFi market.
How does restaking work?
The restaking mechanism is similar to liquid staking: users deposit ETH or LST tokens through a special smart contract and receive liquid restaking tokens (LRT) in return.
At the same time, users not only earn yield from restaking but can also use the LRT tokens received from restaking at their discretion within DeFi.
For example, a user deposited ETH into liquid staking on the Lido platform, earning an annual yield of 2.3%. In return, the user received LST tokens (stETH), which were then deposited into the EigenLayer restaking protocol, yielding 2.1% annually.
Thus, the user's total yield from restaking would amount to 4.4%, which is significantly higher than the yield from native ETH staking. At the same time, the user can use the received LRT tokens, for example, for lending and farming* cryptocurrencies.
* Farming is a way of earning income from cryptocurrency in which a user temporarily places their tokens in a special DeFi protocol (for example, on a lending platform) and receives rewards for doing so. Simply put, it is "putting crypto assets to work": instead of just being stored in a wallet, they are used within a service and generate additional income in the form of interest.
Note: it should be noted that restaking yield is a dynamic indicator and may change over time, both upward and downward.
Risks of restaking
Despite the advantages associated with higher yield and the ability to freely use LRT tokens, restaking involves certain risks.
The first risk of restaking lies in the fact that restaking protocols, such as EigenLayer, represent single points of failure, which may lead to user losses in the event of a hacker attack on the platform.
The second risk of restaking concerns decentralization. The use of restaking leads to a high concentration of assets among a limited number of providers, which could result in various forms of market manipulation.
The third risk concerns cryptocurrency investments themselves. Cryptocurrencies are highly volatile, and during sharp market movements, a restaking investor may not be able to react to price changes as quickly as in the case of simply holding crypto assets in a wallet or on an exchange account.
What restaking protocols exist
EigenLayer
The first, and currently the most popular, restaking protocol was launched in June 2023.
According to DeFi Llama, EigenLayer is among the top three largest protocols in the decentralized finance (DeFi) market by total value locked (TVL), which as of February 2026 amounts to nearly $7 billion. At its peak in August 2025, EigenLayer's TVL exceeded $20 billion.
EigenLayer supports restaking of ETH and LST tokens and has significantly expanded the list of supported digital assets over the past year. The following popular tokens are now available for restaking, among others:
Babylon Protocol
The second-largest restaking protocol, with TVL exceeding $3.2 billion as of February 2026. The key feature of the Babylon Protocol is that it became the first restaking protocol for the Bitcoin ecosystem. Babylon supports the restaking of native BTC with yields of up to 0.93% annually, something no previous DeFi project had offered in the Bitcoin ecosystem.
Symbiotic
The third-largest restaking protocol by TVL in the DeFi market and the second within the Ethereum ecosystem. As of February 2026, the TVL of the Symbiotic restaking protocol reaches nearly $350 million.
The yield for restaking tokens on the Symbiotic platform ranges from 2.03% to 3.17% annually.