Ethereum Restaking Boom Hits $18 Billion
The Ethereum ecosystem has seen significant growth in restaking activity, particularly around EigenLayer's infrastructure. In February 2026, EigenLayer reached a milestone of $18 billion in restaked ETH across 1,900 active operators. The team behind this infrastructure is led by Sreeram Kannan, who brings expertise from his academic background in information theory and wireless networks.
The growth can be attributed to the development of specialized services within the Actively Validated Services (AVS) framework. Vertical AVS categories have emerged to cater to specific technical needs, such as AI verification services, which account for over 280 crypto-AI projects that require model evaluation. EigenAI and EigenCompute are examples of these services, launched on mainnet in late 2025 and January 2026, respectively.
EigenDA remains the largest consumer of restaked security, achieving 100 MB/s throughput through its Data Availability Committee model. However, competitors like Celestia use independent validator sets, while EigenDA relies on restaked ETH and EIGEN token forkability. The concentration of restaked assets in protocols like EtherFi and Renzo poses risks for users due to governance decisions affecting multiple individuals.
Liquid restaking tokens (LRTs) provide a retail entry point by representing restaked positions as tradable assets, with EtherFi leading the market at $5.6 billion in TVL. However, incidents like Kelp DAO's April 2026 exploit through a LayerZero bridge vulnerability highlight the risks associated with bridge dependencies.
Notably, the Pectra upgrade since May 2025 changed restaking economics via EIP-7251, raising the maximum effective validator balance from 32 ETH to 2,048 ETH. This led to consolidation among large operators, reducing the active validator set by approximately 16,000.