The Eigen Foundation has announced the release of Programmatic Incentives v1, a new feature within the EigenLayer protocol designed to distribute EIGEN token rewards to stakers and operators. This initiative aims to incentivize active participation in supporting AVSs (Advanced Validation Systems), according to EigenLayer Blog.

Programmatic Incentives v1 Overview

The Programmatic Incentives v1 will provide weekly rewards of newly-minted EIGEN tokens to qualifying stakers and their delegated operators. These incentives will be retroactive from August 15, 2024, and will be claimable weekly starting in October 2024. In its first year, the program is set to distribute approximately 66,945,866 EIGEN, which represents 4% of the token’s initial supply of around 1,673,646,668 tokens.

Distribution Mechanics

Initially, the distribution will be configured as follows:

• Linearly Distributed: Around 1,287,420 EIGEN will be distributed weekly to stakers and operators, starting August 15, 2024.
• Proportional to Stake: EIGEN will be distributed based on the amount of delegated stake.
• Fixed Operator Commission: 10% of the weekly distributions (~128,742 EIGEN) will go to operators with delegations, and the remaining 90% (~1,158,678 EIGEN) will be allocated to stakers. These percentages are subject to change in future updates.

Eligibility and Claiming

To qualify for Programmatic Incentives, operators must be registered to at least one AVS, and stakers must delegate to a registered operator. The first rewards will be visible in the EigenLayer dApp as ‘Lifetime Earned Rewards’ starting October 1, 2024, and can be claimed from October 8, 2024, onward. Accrued rewards will not expire and can be claimed at any time.

Direct stakers and operators can claim their rewards via the EigenLayer dApp, CLI, or directly through smart contracts. LRT Stakers will accumulate rewards through the LRT protocol, and users should refer to their respective LRT protocols for details on managing these rewards.

Future Updates

The configuration of the Programmatic Incentives will adapt over time to better meet the ecosystem’s needs. Future updates under consideration include:

• Rewards Boost: Distributing EIGEN proportional to rewards distributed by each AVS.
• Rewards Floor: Allocating a small portion of rewards to AVSs not yet distributing rewards.
• Variable Operator Commissions: Introducing flexible commission rates to foster an operator marketplace.

Significance of Programmatic Incentives v1

This release signifies a major milestone for EigenLayer and the restaking ecosystem. By transitioning from retroactive incentives to continuous liquid rewards, EigenLayer aims to create a market for price discovery of shared security. The predictable rewards will provide a credible commitment to stakers and operators, subsidize the restaking marketplace, and strengthen incentive alignment by encouraging positive actor participation.

A follow-up blog post with more technical details, claiming guidelines, and supporting documentation will be published upon the mainnet release of Programmatic Incentives v1.

For more information, visit the EigenLayer Blog.

Image source: Shutterstock