Before we get started, this is not a recommendation or endorsement to buy any token(s) mentioned.
This will be the final installment of our three-part series for playing the EigenLayer airdrop with a newer DeFi primitive called Liquid Restaking Tokens (LRTs).
EigenLayer, known for introducing restaking on Ethereum, is a primitive in crypto-economic security enabling the reuse of ETH on the consensus layer. While anyone can deposit a liquid staking token (LST) into EigenLayer smart contracts to restake their LST and extend crypto-economic security to other applications on the network to earn additional rewards, LRTs present a better way for LST holders to earn yield while maintaining a transferable utility token they can use in DeFi.
In my last post, we covered rsETH by Kelp DAO. Restakers can deposit their stETH or ETHx to mint rsETH tokens for fractional ownership of the underlying assets while rsETH contracts distribute the deposited tokens to different Node Operators that operate within the Kelp DAO. However since publishing that guide, rsETH no longer allows for new deposits due to the caps being filled on EigenLayer.
Different than rsETH, the newest native liquid restaking token to launch is ezETH by Renzo Protocol. Renzo has attracted over $22M in ETH since mid-December.
ezETH has a similar all-in-one token design to make ETH staking and LST restaking easy for users. ezETH is able to circumvent the caps on EigenLayer by pooling ETH to form an EigenPod and deposit 32 ETH to activate an Ethereum validator.
However, ezETH does not allow for withdrawals or transfers yet, offers a lower yield than eETH by ether.fi (2.86% APR as of this writing), and currently does not support integrations with any DeFi protocols.
Previously, we’ve covered how eETH by ether.fi offers all these benefits as well as DeFi integrations with Curve, Maverick, Balancer, and Gravita.
Despite being nascent, Renzo’s ezETH is still a promising alternative to eETH to help diversify how ETH is being deposited into EigenLayer.
ezETH is ideal for anyone who wants to play the EigenLayer airdrop while caps are full. There’s also an opportunity to speculate on Renzo’s future product development aiming to capture a higher yield for ezETH holders from Actively Validated Services (AVSs) by earning a 2x boost on Renzo ezPoints, which we can assume will be used to award a future Renzo airdrop.
Today, I’ll show how I can mint ezETH in the hopes of earning a future EigenLayer airdrop as well as an airdrop from Renzo.
How to Earn EigenLayer Restaking Points with ezETH by Renzo
Before we get started, please be aware of these risks.
- Smart contract risk in EigenLayer and Renzo
- Front-end spoof attack on the app frontend
- Slashing risks to the node operators
- An economic design exploit in the design of EigenLayer or Renzo
- Colluding signers on any multisig controlling contract upgrades
- First, I go to Renzo’s dApp, connect my Ethereum wallet and click on the Restake tab.
- Then, I specify how much ETH to deposit, click Confirm, and follow the prompts to confirm in my wallet.
That’s it! Now I just hold ezETH to accumulate EigenLayer Restaking Points, Renzo ezPoints, and ETH staking yield. I can also create a referral link like this under the Referral Program tab to earn 10% of the ezPoints my friends…
DeFi Dad is one of the earliest power users of DeFi, having worked with early Ethereum startups going back to 2018, including Zapper.
