In-depth analysis re-staking stack: a comprehensive classification from blockchain network to applications

Author: Ingeun, Source: Four Pillars Translation: Bitchain Vision, Shanoba

Key Points

Re-staking is a mechanism that allows users to reuse the pledged assets, providing additional security for multiple blockchain networks or applications.This approach enables users to recycle their existing pledged assets, improve scalability and liquidity, while also receiving additional rewards.
Replenishment Stack is a conceptual framework that systematically classifies the main components of the replenishment ecosystem, including blockchain-based networks, pledge infrastructure, pledge platforms, replenishment infrastructure, replenishment platforms and replenishment applications..
Replenishment infrastructure provides a technical basis for realizing replenishment, allowing the use of pledged assets to protect other protocols or networks.Notable projects in this field include Ethereum’s EigenLayer, Bitcoin’s Babylon and Solana’s Solayer.These projects focus on ensuring liquidity, enhancing security, and providing network scalability.
Restaking redefines blockchain security and is rapidly growing into an ecosystem.Its ability to improve scalability and liquidity through economic security makes it extremely attractive, although people still worry about the risks and profitability of the re-staking model.
The next article in this series will explore restaking platforms and applications that are critical to the potential massive adoption of the restaking ecosystem.

As of September 28, 2024, the total locked value (TVL) in the restaking ecosystem led by EigenLayer was approximately $15.3 billion.This figure exceeds the $13 billion TVL held by crypto lending platform Aave, accounting for more than half of the leading Ethereum liquid staking platform Lido TVL ($26.48 billion).This highlights the amazing growth of the re-staking ecosystem.

Given this, you might be wondering what attracts interest from cryptocurrency holders and drives this growth.To answer this question, this series of articles is divided into two parts, aiming to explain what restaking is, from which perspective, the expanding restaking ecosystem, and the interesting projects therein.

This series begins with an overview of what restaking is, then defines the restaking stack centered on a strong restaking infrastructure, and explores the projects classified under restaking infrastructure and their unique features.

1. Introduction to re-pled

1.1 Before re-pled

When Ethereum transitions from Proof of Work (PoW) to Proof of Stake (PoS), with a highly anticipated upgrade, The Merge, many ETH holders stake their ETH to support network stability and get stakedaward.This process has led to the emergence of various pledge services and platforms.

The first requirement is the staking pool.The minimum 32 ETH required for staking is a major challenge for smaller Ethereum holders.To solve this problem, a staking pool was developed to allow people holding less than 32 ETH to participate in Ethereum staking.

The next question is about liquidity.When pledging ETH, assets are locked in the smart contract, resulting in reduced liquidity.In the initial stage of the PoS transition, the pledged ETH cannot even be extracted, which actually means that the liquidity of the pledged ETH is close to zero.To address this issue, services such as Lido and Rocket Pool have issued liquid staking tokens (LSTs).LST matches the staked ETH value, allowing stakers to use them as proxy for their staked ETH in other DeFi services.Essentially, LST allows users to regain some liquidity for their pledged assets.

After ensuring liquidity through LST, new opportunities to leverage these tokens emerge.However, LST is primarily limited to the Ethereum DeFi ecosystem and is not used to protect the extended network (e.g. L2) built on Ethereum.This brings new challenges to Ethereum’s security model, such as:

Scalability issues:Ethereum has limited transaction processing capabilities, which means that during a period of high demand, the network may become crowded, resulting in a significant increase in transaction fees.This makes it difficult for dApp and DeFi platforms to accommodate a large number of users.Layer 2 (L2) solutions emerge to solve this problem, but they require their own security and verification mechanisms.
Requires additional security:Ethereum’s basic security mechanism runs at the protocol level and relies on participants to pledge ETH to maintain network security.However, Ethereum’s built-in security is not always sufficient to meet the specific security needs of various L2 and applications, so an additional layer of security is needed for each application.
Liquidity Limits:Although Ethereum uses PoS to activate the staking mechanism, a key problem remains: staking assets are only used for network security.For example, pledged ETH cannot be used for other useful features or applications.This limits liquidity and limits the ability of network participants to explore additional revenue generation opportunities.

These challenges highlight the need for a new security mechanism that fits the current state of Ethereum and PoS blockchains.

1.2 The rise of re-pled

The need for new security approaches ultimately leads to the concept of restaking.

“Restaking is the latest answer to the core security issue of cryptocurrency: How to use economic games to protect decentralized computing systems.”

Sam Kessler, CoinDesk

As described in the citation, replenishment uses financial engineering principles to enhance blockchain security through economic security.

Before delving into restaking, it is important to understand how PoS blockchain maintains security.Many blockchains, including Ethereum, use PoS, and one common attack method is to allow adversaries to accumulate enough staking assets to affect the network.The cost of intrusion of blockchain is usually proportional to the total value of staked in the network, which can act as a deterrent.

Re-pled further advances this concept, aiming to apply economic security more widely.A large amount of money has been invested in major agreements such as Ethereum.Re-staking repurposes these funds to provide enhanced security and functionality at the L2 or application level.Thanks to the added security advantages, re-stakers can get a greater return than through traditional staking alone.Therefore, re-staking can solve the above challenges:

Scalability:Restaking allows L2 solutions and other applications to leverage the security of major blockchain staking resources.This allows L2 solutions to maintain a higher level of security without building independent mechanisms, but instead leverage staking capital in the mainnet.
Enhanced security:Restaking allows the staking resources of the primary blockchain to be used not only to protect the main network, but also to verify and protect application-level features.This creates a stronger and more comprehensive security framework.
Liquidity enhancement:Re-pled is intended to allow pledged mainnet assets to be reused for other purposes.For example, staking assets can be used for verification tasks across different networks or applications, thereby increasing the overall liquidity and practicality of the security ecosystem while providing additional rewards to participants.

In short, restaking emerged to address the limitations of PoS mainnets such as Ethereum, aiming to enable these networks to support more participants while providing enhanced security and liquidity.

A notable early implementation of the concept of restaking is Cross-chain Security (ICS).Cosmos operates an ecosystem in which multiple independent blockchains interact through a cross-chain concept.However, each chain has to maintain its own security, which puts a burden.ICS solves this problem by allowing blockchains in the Cosmos ecosystem to share security resources.

Cosmos Hub’s validators are responsible for protecting the network, new or small chains can take advantage of this security without building their own validator network.This approach reduces security costs and helps to launch new blockchain projects more easily in the Cosmos ecosystem.However, challenges such as increased infrastructure costs, limited utility of native tokens, and high profit requirements for consumer chains limit the overall success of ICS.

Nevertheless, these efforts pave the way for EgenLayer in the Ethereum ecosystem, which has now become a leader in the restaking industry.Therefore, to thoroughly understand restaking, researching EigenLayer, which is deeply rooted in the Ethereum ecosystem, is a good starting point.Let’s get a deeper look at EigenLayer and the restaking ecosystem.

1.3 Examples by EigenLayer

1.3.1 From fragmented security to refactored security

How can re-staking fundamentally provide stronger security and liquidity?

“If I see further, it’s because I’m standing on the shoulders of giants.”

Isaac Newton

This famous quote by Isaac Newton recognizes the contributions of scientists in the past to his achievements.More broadly, this sentence suggests that “utilizing existing resources is often a wise choice.”

Currently, many blockchain services rely on large L1 networks, leveraging their ecosystem, trust and security resources.However, choosing an undermature network or trying to become a major player independently can be risky, as these projects may fail before they can reach their full potential.

To illustrate this with EigenLayer, let’s consider the scenario shown in the figure below.

The two ecosystems in the picture each have $13 billion in pledged capital.Ethereum and Actively Validated Services (AVS, a middleware network service) on the left are not interconnected, while Ethereum and Actively Validated Services on the right are interconnected through EigenLayer.

Left Ecosystem:Here, Ethereum and AVS are not directly connected, so while value can be transferred between networks through bridges, it has nothing to do with shared security.Therefore, Ethereum and AVS cannot share economic security, resulting in security decentralization.An attacker may target networks with the lowest staked capital.This leads to a security decentralization where the cost of corruption (CoC) is consistent with the minimum required amount.This situation creates a competitive environment between services, rather than synergistically, which could undermine the economic security of Ethereum.
The right ecosystem:What happens if Ethereum and AVS are connected?EigenLayer answers this question by integrating Ethereum and AVS through the concept of restaking, combining fragmented security into a rebuilt form.This integration has two benefits: AVS services can share capital of the Ethereum network, rather than competing for it, and all AVS services can take full advantage of the shared economic security.This effectively creates an environment where these “bigs” unite and let them see further together.

1.3.2 The pillar of re-pled (Feat. EigenLayer)

Through this explanation, we can understand that AVS services can inherit the economic security of Ethereum, thereby obtaining significant security at a lower cost.However, this complex financial ecosystem relies on various roles to operate smoothly.Let’s dig into these roles:

Active Verification Service (AVS):AVS is a service that requires a decentralized verification system, such as a DA layer, a sidechain, or an oracle network.AVS relies on node operators to maintain network security by reliably operating nodes.AVS uses two mechanisms: cuts (forfeiting some or all of the pledge amounts due to poor performance) and rewards (rewards for successful operations).AVS can leverage restaken ETH to leverage Ethereum’s security without building a separate trust network.
Remortgager:The restaker is the entity that restakes native ETH or LST pledged on the Ethereum beacon chain.If the restakers are unsure of choosing a specific AVS or seeking additional rewards, they can delegate the restaked capital to the node operator.In this case, the re-mortgager delegates its capital to the nodes operated by the node operator and receives the remortgage reward from them.
Node operator:The node operator obtains the entrusted re-staking funds from the re-stakeholder and operates the node to perform the verification tasks required by the AVS.Node operators use re-staked funds to establish and operate nodes with enhanced security.They play a vital role in maintaining the reliability and security of AVS and receive restaking and node operation rewards in return.

1.3.3 Merge into one

EigenLayer integrates these roles into an open market structure, allowing each role to operate freely based on economic principles.

In this setup, the reholder delegates its assets (such as ETH, LST, or LPT) to the node operator, which then uses its node to protect the AVS service and receives rewards.Meanwhile, AVS pays node operators operational rewards to recognize their security contributions, thus ensuring network security and trust.

1.3.4 Strengthen the re-pled ecosystem

EigenLayer is a typical example of restaking, providing a comprehensive understanding of the concept.Most emerging restaking services strictly follow the core principles of restaking, which makes EigenLayer an effective reference for understanding the restaking model.

With EigenLayer as the pioneer, the re-pled ecosystem is constantly expanding.This growth is not just on scale; the ecosystem is becoming more subtle, with more specific roles and classifications emerging.This gives us a deeper understanding of the ever-expanding ecosystem.In the next chapter, we will take a closer look at the restaking stack and explore projects in each category.

2. Rebet the stack

Since the restaking ecosystem is still actively developing, it can be challenging to clearly divide each category.However, as the ecosystem matures and stabilizes its status, it will promote the development of more advanced projects.Using existing data and my perspective, I will introduce a framework for classifying the restaking ecosystem – the restaking stack.

2.1 Based on blockchain network

The blockchain-based network layer is the basis for staking or re-staking, and its characteristic is that the blockchain has its own native tokens and security mechanisms.PoS-based blockchains such as Ethereum and Solana provide a stable and efficient environment for staking and restaking due to their huge TVL.Although Bitcoin is not based on PoS, its dominance in blockchain capital has prompted constant efforts to incorporate its economic security into restaking.

Ethereum:Ethereum is the main restaken blockchain network and plays a key role in the ecosystem.With its PoS system and smart contract capabilities, Ethereum provides users with the opportunity to participate in various restaking activities using its native ETH through platforms such as EigenLayer.
Bitcoin:Bitcoin adopts the PoW mechanism and lacks the native staking function unique to the PoS blockchain.Nevertheless, due to its global adoption and strong security, initiatives like Babylon aim to integrate large amounts of Bitcoin’s capital into the restaking ecosystem, leveraging its economic security to support other blockchains.Projects like Babylon allow the use of Bitcoin’s capital without packaging or bridging, allowing Bitcoin staking directly from its blockchain.
Solana:Solana is known for its high performance and low transaction costs, providing a conducive environment for staking, DeFi, NFT and restaking.With the continuous development of Solana staking infrastructure, platforms such as Solayer are emerging to establish a prominent position for Solana in the restaking ecosystem by providing a unique restaking model tailored to Solana’s strengths.

2.2 Pledge infrastructure

The staking infrastructure layer includes systems that allow participants to stake their native tokens, thus helping to improve the security and efficiency of the blockchain network.These infrastructures are at the heart of PoS-based consensus mechanisms that enable decentralized processes of block verification and generation.Participants pledge their assets to become validators, helping to maintain network stability and receive rewards.In addition, pledge infrastructure monitors the behavior of validators, enhancing security by reducing penalties for misconduct.

Beacon Chain:Beacon chains play a crucial role in the Ethereum network that has been transitioned to PoS, improving scalability, security, and energy efficiency.Unlike previous PoW-based Ethereum, beacon chains run around validators who stake native ETH.It selects the validator and manages the process of proposing and validating blocks.This shift reduces the high energy consumption of PoW-based mining while maintaining the decentralization of the network and improving efficiency.In addition, the beacon chain monitors users participating as the verifier by locking the staked native ETH and monitors whether the verifier correctly verifies the block.If validators have misconduct, they face penalties through a process called cuts, which involves the forfeiture of the ETH they staked.
Equity Pool:Solana’s stake pool enhances network security and simplifies the process for users to participate in staking.They aggregate smaller SOL stakes, allowing users to jointly support a single verifier.Through this process, users who delegate stakes to validators will receive rewards because these validators create blocks or validate transactions.The stake pool also improves network stability by assigning staking SOLs to reliable validators.

2.3 Pledge Platform

The staking platform layer includes services that enable users to contribute to the security and operation of blockchain networks while maintaining liquidity of their assets.These platforms play a key role in the PoS blockchain by providing simple services that allow users to stake native tokens and receive rewards.In addition to locking assets, the pledge platform also provides liquid staking, which is to tokenize pledged assets, allowing users to use these assets in DeFi services.This structure enables users to maintain liquidity while participating in network operations and maximizing rewards.Through these functions, the staking platform simplifies the user experience and makes it easier for more users to participate in staking.

Lido:Lido is one of the most popular liquid staking platforms in the Ethereum ecosystem, allowing users to stake their native ETH and get stETH in return.This liquidity token maintains the value of staking ETH, allowing users to receive additional rewards through other DeFi services.Since then, Lido’s focus on Ethereum has expanded to networks such as Polygon-enabled Polygon-enabled networks.
Rocket Pool:Rocket Pool is a community-owned Ethereum decentralized staking platform compatible with native ETH staking.The platform was originally conceived in 2016 and launched in 2021 to provide solutions for users who do not have the technical ability to run nodes or have no financial resources to meet the 32 ETH requirements.Rocket Pool is committed to building a liquid and reliable platform that allows users to leverage their pledged assets in a variety of services.
Jito:Jito is Solana’s liquid staking platform, providing users with MEV (maximum extractable value) rewards.Users can pledge their native SOL through Jito’s stake pool and obtain JitoSOL tokens that maintain liquidity while accumulating stakes and MEV rewards.Jito aims to optimize returns for users who hold JitoSOL and contribute to enriching the Solana DeFi ecosystem.
Sanctum:Based on Solana’s fast and low fees, Sanctum provides enhanced security through open source and multi-signature frameworks as a staking platform.It allows users to use staking SOLs in DeFi services.By integrating the liquidity of various LST pools, it solves the problem of liquidity fragmentation, allowing users to access a richer liquidity pool.It is worth noting that through Infinity Pool, users can deposit LST or SOL, receive INF tokens, and simplify staking and liquidity provision.Additionally, Sanctum runs a rewards program called Wonderland, which encourages users to actively engage by providing points and rewards for performing specific tasks or using the platform.

2.4 Re-staking infrastructure

The restaking infrastructure layer is crucial to enhancing the economic security, providing scalability and flexibility of blockchain networks.It enables users to reuse pledged assets to protect multiple networks or applications, providing restakers with opportunities to participate in various services while maximizing returns.Applications built on top of this infrastructure can leverage restaking assets to protect stronger security frameworks and extend their capabilities.

Restaking infrastructure also supports restaking platforms and applications, allowing them to create customized staking and security models.This enhances the scalability and interoperability of the entire blockchain ecosystem, positioning restake as a key technology to maintain decentralized networks.

Here are some examples, and Chapter 3 provides more details on restaking infrastructure.

EigenLayer:EigenLayer is a restaking infrastructure built on Ethereum, enabling users to restake their native ETH or LST to protect other applications and receive additional rewards.By reusing staking ETH in various services, EigenLayer reduces the capital requirements for participation while significantly improving the credibility of each service.
Symbiotic:Symbiotic is a restaked infrastructure that provides an open and accessible shared security model for decentralized networks.It enables builders to create custom staking and restaking systems with modular scalability and decentralized operator rewards and cuts, thus providing enhanced economic stability to the network.
Babylon:Babylon connects Bitcoin’s powerful economic security with other blockchains such as Cosmos, aims to enhance security and promote cross-chain interoperability.Babylon’s integration allows for safer transactions through the network it connects to leverages Bitcoin’s proven security.It utilizes Bitcoin’s hash power to enhance certainty and provides a set of protocols for sharing Bitcoin’s security with other networks.
Solayer:Solayer is built on the Solana network, leveraging economic security to extend the application chain, providing application developers with customized block space and efficient transaction alignment.It utilizes restaking SOL and LST to maintain network security while enhancing specific network capabilities, designed to support scalable application development.

2.5 Re-pled platform

The replenishment platform layer includes a platform that provides additional liquidity or combines replenishment assets with other DeFi services, enabling users to maximize their returns.These platforms typically issue liquid re-staked tokens (LRTs) to further enhance the liquidity of re-staked assets.They also promote users to participate in restaking through flexible management models and reward systems, thus contributing to the stability and decentralization of the restaking ecosystem.

Ether.fi: Ether.fiIt is a decentralized re-pled platform that allows users to directly control their re-pled keys.It provides a service market for node operators and restakeholders to interact.The platform issues eETH as a liquid staking token and seeks to disperse the Ethereum network through a multi-step restaking process and node service configuration.
Puffer.fi: Puffer.fiIt is a decentralized native liquidity re-mortgage platform based on EigenLayer.It allows anyone holding less than 32 ETH to stake its Ethereum native tokens, maximizing returns through integration with EigenLayer.Puffer.fi provides high capital efficiency, providing liquidity and PoS rewards through its pufETH tokens.Respondents can get stable returns without complex DeFi strategies, and Puffer.fi’s security mechanism ensures assets are secure.
Bedrock:Bedrock has partnered with RockX to develop a liquidity re-mortgage platform that supports a variety of asset types.It provides additional rewards by re-staking assets such as wBTC, ETH and IOTX.For example, uniBTC restakes BTC for the security of the Ethereum network, and uniETH restakes ETH in a similar way, maximizing rewards through EigenLayer.Bedrock adopts a capped token structure to prevent the growth of total issuances and aims to increase the value of tokens over time.
Fragmetric:Fragmetric is a liquidity restaking platform in the Solana ecosystem, using Solana’s token expansion capabilities to solve reward allocation and cut rate issues.Its fragSOL token sets new standards for restaking on Solana, providing a platform structure that enhances security and profitability at the same time.

2.6 Re-pled application

The restaking application layer includes decentralized services and applications that use restaking assets to enhance the security and functionality of existing blockchain infrastructure.These applications utilize restake to ensure economic security while focusing on providing specific features such as data availability storage, oracles, physical infrastructure verification, and cross-chain interoperability.

By allowing validators on Ethereum and other blockchain networks to restake assets across multiple services, restaking applications can reduce capital costs while improving security and scalability.They also ensure data integrity and security through decentralized processes, and apply economic incentives and penalties to ensure reliability.These applications enhance the scalability and efficiency of blockchain systems and promote interoperability between different services.

EigenDA:EigenDA is a highly scalable data availability (DA) storage solution for Ethereum aggregation and is integrated with EigenLayer.EigenLayer requires operators to pledge margins to participate, penalizing those who fail to properly store and verify data.This inspires decentralized and secure data storage, and EigenDA’s scalability and security are enhanced through EigenLayer’s restake mechanism.
Eoracle:Eoracle is an oracle service in the EigenLayer ecosystem that provides data verification using restaken ETH and Ethereum validators.Eoracle aims to create a decentralized competitive market for data providers and users, automate data verification and implement smart contracts that integrate external data sources.
Witness Chain:Witness Chain supports the development of new products and services for a wide range of applications and decentralized physical infrastructure networks (DePINs).It uses the DePIN Coordination Layer (DCL) module to convert physical properties into verifiable digital proofs.In the EigenLayer ecosystem, EigenLayer operators run DePIN Challenger Clients to ensure that their verification process has a reliable environment.
Lagrange:Lagrange is the first zero-knowledge AVS on EigenLayer.Its National Council is a decentralized network of nodes that uses zero-knowledge technology to provide security for cross-chain interoperability.Lagrange’s ZK MapReduce solution supports efficient cross-chain operations while maintaining security and scalability.It enhances cross-chain messaging and aggregation integration, leveraging the economic security of EigenLayer to improve performance.

Through an overview of the restaking stack and project examples, we see that as the restaking ecosystem matures, it becomes more structured and provides a deeper understanding.How to take a closer look at these emerging categories?In this series, we will first focus on restaking infrastructure, and other components will be covered in the next section.

3. Re-private infrastructure ecosystem

Restaking infrastructure is a basic framework that supports the reuse of staking assets across different networks and protocols to enhance network security and maximize utility.With the popularity of the concept of restaking, major blockchain networks such as Ethereum, Bitcoin and Solana have developed infrastructure that suits its unique characteristics.In this section, we will explore the reasons for the emergence and development of resolidated infrastructure in each network, the advantages and challenges they face, and the impact of various projects on resolidated infrastructure.

3.1 Ethereum

During the “The Merge” upgrade, Ethereum transitioned from PoW to PoS, laying the foundation for the development of restaking infrastructure.Ethereum’s PoS model relies on pledged assets to ensure network security, but the ability to reuse these assets to other protocols has greatly increased interest in restaking.

Ethereum’s main focus is scalability, and it has been achieving this with its L2 solution.However, as Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin pointed out, this approach leads to security fragmentation, ultimately weakening Ethereum’s security model.EigenLayer became the first solution to solve this problem through economic security, allowing staking Ethereum assets to be used in other protocols for enhanced security and scalability.

EigenLayer provides Ethereum asset resecurity services across different protocols while maintaining basic security and leveraging a large network of operators to achieve stable economic security.It supports native ETH restaking and plans to expand to LST and ERC-20 tokens to provide potential solutions to Ethereum’s scalability challenges.

The concept of restaking is spreading in the Ethereum ecosystem, and other projects are also working to address the limitations of Ethereum.For example, Symbiotic enhances Ethereum’s security by integrating with other DeFi services.Through partnership with Ethena Labs, Symbiotic supports a wide range of asset restaking, including LSTs such as wstETH, as well as assets such as sUSDe and ENA.This allows users to provide additional security resources through restaking and improve PoS security for Ethereum.In addition, Symbiotic issues ERC-20 tokens such as LRT to provide a flexible reward structure that allows efficient use of restaking assets in various protocols.

Another restaking infrastructure, Karak, aims to address Ethereum’s structural inefficiency issues that pose challenges to restaking operations.Karak provides multi-chain support, enabling users to deposit assets across chains, such as Arbitrum, Mantle, and Binance Smart Chain.It supports re-staking ERC-20 tokens, stablecoins and LST in multi-chain environments.Karac uses its own L2 chain to store assets, maximizing scalability while maintaining security.

3.2 Bitcoin

As a PoW-based network, Bitcoin has different characteristics from PoS-based networks, whose pledged assets are directly related to security.However, Bitcoin’s dominance in market capitalization has led to the development of restaking concepts that exploit the economic security of Bitcoin to generate additional revenue in other blockchains.Projects like Babylon, Pell Network, and Photon use various methods to integrate Bitcoin’s security into their ecosystem, thus enhancing its scalability.

Bitcoin’s PoW system is one of the most secure systems in the world, making it a valuable asset for restaking infrastructure.Babylon uses Bitcoin’s staking and restaking capabilities to enhance the security of other PoS blockchains.It transforms the economic value of Bitcoin into economic security, providing protection for other blockchains.It operates its own PoS chain using the Cosmos SDK, enabling uncustodial and restaken directly from the Bitcoin blockchain without the need for third-party trust.

Bitcoin also faces challenges in liquidity and additional income opportunities.Pell Network was established to provide liquidity and revenue opportunities for Bitcoin holders, leveraging cross-chain technology to integrate Bitcoin into the DeFi ecosystem for additional benefits.

The most significant limitation of Bitcoin is the lack of native smart contract support.While PoW provides strong security, its design makes internal programming difficult via smart contracts.Photon solves this problem by expanding Bitcoin’s ability to execute smart contracts without changing its core structure, and directly implements staking and restaking on the Bitcoin main network.This ensures that all staking and restaking related processes are verified on the Bitcoin main network, maintaining high security of Bitcoin while providing flexible staking options.

3.3 Solana

Solana is known for its high transaction throughput and low fees, making it an ideal environment for restaking infrastructure development.Several projects in the Solana ecosystem have adopted a restaking model to maximize these advantages.

Solana’s rapid growth has benefited validators directly, but the fair distribution of economic benefits in the wider Solana ecosystem has been a challenge.Solayer solves this problem by providing a restaking infrastructure focused on economic security and execution to extend the application chain network, providing frameworks for staking native SOLs and LSTs to support application-specific networks.It also allows users to repurpose their pledged assets on other protocols to maximize returns.

Since Solayer draws inspiration from Ethereum’s restaking infrastructure, such as EigenLayer, it adopts a similar approach to facilitate users while customizing its restaking model based on Solana’s unique properties.This ultimately aims to drive the Solana ecosystem.

Jito is recognized for its role in Solana’s staking infrastructure and is currently working to expand its influence to restaking.Jito is building its restake services on top of its existing Solana infrastructure, and its potential scalability and reliability have attracted great interest from users.Jito’s vision is to leverage SPL-based assets through restaking solutions and optimize MEVs during block creation.This improves security while providing more money-making opportunities for reprivators.

Picasso supplements Solana’s scalability by building a cross-chain expansion framework and restaking mechanism.Picasso not only develops a resolution layer for Solana, but also a resolution layer for the Cosmos ecosystem, introducing an extended concept that allows users to resolute assets across multiple PoS networks.It aims to bring the previously limited restaking ecosystem to Solana and Cross-blockchain Communications (IBC) ecosystem, providing tailored restaking services with a grand vision.

3.4 The increasingly complex re-staking infrastructure

In this way, resolidged infrastructure projects on networks such as Ethereum, Bitcoin and Solana have been developed by leveraging the strengths and weaknesses of their respective ecosystems.These projects demonstrate the potential for resolidation infrastructure to play an important role in the future blockchain ecosystem in its network development.

Projects such as Eigenlayer, Symbiotic and Karak have made significant contributions to solving Ethereum’s scalability problems and enhancing its security.Meanwhile, projects such as Babylon, Pell Network and Photon have leveraged Bitcoin’s security in various ways to further develop the concept of restaking.In addition, projects such as Solayer, Jito and Picasso use Solana’s unique features to restake more effectively, which also has a positive impact on network scalability.

4. Looking to the future—a new form of cybersecurity based on financial engineering

In this series, we explore the basics of restaking, define the restaking stack, and study the ecosystem of restaking infrastructure.Just like the growth of L2 solutions, restaking infrastructure is also growing around the core blockchain network and is constantly working to enhance its capabilities.As the scale of the re-staking ecosystem continues to expand (represented by its growing TVL), an independent ecosystem is taking shape.

An important factor in remortgage growth is its reliance on financial engineering rather than purely technical features.Unlike traditional mortgage infrastructure, remortgage infrastructure is more flexible and can accept a wider range of asset types.However, this flexibility brings new economic structures and risks, unlike traditional blockchain operations.

One major risk is that remortgage is essentially a derivative financial asset, not a core financial asset.Some people believe remortgage is a promising investment opportunity and a new advance in the crypto security field, while others believe it is a remortgage model with overly generous returns and high risks.In addition, remortgage infrastructure has not yet experienced extreme market tests, such as the pressure of the “crypto winter”, which has raised questions about its potential stability.

If this stability is not proven, remortgage may be criticized for the risks inherent in its remortgage model.Furthermore, the ecosystem has not yet expanded enough to build the economies of scale required for sustainable business models, which remains a challenge.

Nevertheless, it is undeniable that the rapid growth of the re-staking ecosystem (especially re-staking infrastructure).The increasingly perfect ecosystem structure supports this momentum.As the ecosystem develops, concerns about profitability may be addressed, ultimately positioning restaked infrastructure as a key player in cryptocurrency and blockchain security.

The classification and definition of the ecosystem suggests that it is ready to move into the next stage of development.The emergence of Restaking Stack reflects the significant progress made by various projects in developing narratives and products.

Now that the re-staking infrastructure has been improved, the focus will shift to the re-staking platforms and applications, which will determine the success or failure of the large-scale adoption of the re-staking ecosystem.Therefore, the next article in this series will dive into restaking platforms and applications, exploring their potential to drive widespread adoption of the ecosystem.