How To Think About Restaking Economics with Tarun Chitra

Welcome to episode 13 of EigenLayer Unlocked, for a very insightful conversation about building the correct mental model for restaking and crypto-economic security.

We had the opportunity to sit down with Tarun Chitra from Gauntlet, who brought mental models, analogies, and key information to the table about how restaking mechanisms work, what makes EigenLayer's economics operate, and why incentives play a crucial role in this evolving ecosystem.

We kicked things off by exploring the concept of valuing restaked security from one of Tarun's recent blog posts. Tarun explained how the decisions made by node operators—especially around which AVSs they allocate to—can have a ripple effect across the network.

It’s not just about individual services; these choices can influence the broader stability of the ecosystem.

A key part of our discussion was understanding the risks of cascading attacks. Tarun highlighted how failures in one AVS can impact others, leading to potential systemic issues. To prevent this, it’s essential to design security measures that address both local (individual service) and global (network-wide) risks. We discussed the analogy towards traditional finance, mortgages, and bonds to help conceptualize these concepts.

One of the most interesting points was about EigenLayer’s introduction of a new security model featuring "unique stake." This model helps mitigate risks by allowing specific ETH reserves to be slashable only by particular services, providing a layer of isolation and addressing concerns about overlapping slashing risks.

We also discussed the power law as it applies to AVSs—some thriving by transitioning from incentive-based models to sustainable revenue streams, while others might not make the cut longer-term.

If you’re looking to get a clearer understanding of how restaking economics works, this is the podcast for you.

Enjoy.

The Rollup