a16z is investing $70 million in EigenLayer, the largest restaking protocol on Ethereum, with over $12 billion in total value locked (TVL). a16z previously committed $100 million in EigenLayer for its series B funding round. The $70 million was for EigenLayer tokens.
a16z said the investment will accelerate the commercialization of EigenLayer services. By combining their AVS ecosystem, they can unblock app developers across crypto’s smart contract ecosystems and open the design space to any web2 developer.
Sreeram Kannan, CEO of Eigen Labs, predicts they will power the next generation of mass-market crypto apps.
“EigenCloud expands the programmability of crypto and makes virtually anything verifiable onchain. It opens up the opportunity for developers to build highly ambitious products like disintermediated digital marketplaces, onchain insurance, fully onchain games, automated adjudication, powerful prediction markets, and verifiable AI.”
EigenCloud aims to allow developers building on any blockchain tools to build verifiable and trustless Web2 applications and services. EigenCloud has released the alpha version after a year of R&D.
The company explains:
“Bitcoin disrupted money, and Ethereum made it programmable for the first app developers, but we believe crypto is just getting started, and the next era of application innovation will come when crypto’s verifiability is programmable for any developer building any application in any industry.”
Access to EigenCloud is reportedly rolling out to select developers today, with expanded availability planned for later this year.
