Eigen Labs, the company behind the EigenLayer protocol, announced the acquisition of…
Eigen Labs, the company behind the EigenLayer protocol, announced the acquisition of replenishment platform Rio Network. The deal will see Rio’s intellectual property law made open source.
According to the announcement made on June 12, the acquisition was made through two separate transactions. The Eigen Foundation will acquire the intellectual rights to the Rio network, including the Liquid Restore Token (LRT) technology, which will be open sourced as a reference application in the EigenLayer ecosystem.
Meanwhile, Eigen Labs is the new headquarters for the Rio team, with a particular focus on the development of EigenLayer. The companies did not disclose the amount of the transaction.
Staking in blockchain involves locking crypto assets to support network operations and security, typically in proof-of-stake (PoS) systems where stored assets help users validate transactions and maintain consensus . Refactoring extends this concept by allowing pooled assets to simultaneously secure additional protocols or layers without having to decouple them from the original network. Users receive crypto rewards for storing tokens and securing networks.
Both EigenLayer and Rio Network focus on improving the utility of pledged assets, while working with distinct methods and goals.
EigenLayer allows users to reuse their already stored assets, such as Ether (ETH), to secure additional blockchains. In contrast, Rio offers liquid representation of pledged assets. Users deposit their assets and in return receive LRT proportional to their stake, which can be traded on secondary markets while their initial stake continues to earn rewards.
By analogy, let’s think of EigenLayer as the railroad tracks that provide the infrastructure for promised assets to move on-chain, while Rio is more like a train ticket to rebuilding.
According to data from DefiLlama, the total value of EigenLayer is approaching $20 billion at the time of writing. The protocol’s mainnet launched in 2023 after raising $50 million in Series A funding led by Blockchain Capital, alongside Coinbase Ventures, Polychain Capital, Electric Capital, and Finality Capital Partner.
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