Sreeram Kannan is the founder of Eigen Layer and the director of the University of Washington’s Blockchain Lab. His research at UW focuses on distributed computing, information theory, queuing theory, networking, coding theory, and game theory of blockchain systems. Eigen Layer is a proof of stake validation marketplace that reuses state capital and existing validation infrastructure. With Eigen Layer. Ethereum can enable permissionless and modular innovation across all blockchain layers.
Today we dive in to Sreeram’s background in academia, how the blockchain space peaked his interest, and the hype around Eigen Layer. But first, Sreeram is going to tell us exactly what he’s up to at Eigen Layer and how he merges both a data availability layer and a restaking platform.
00:00 All Eyes to Mainnet
01:46 Background
03:48 Academics and Crypto Skepticism
13:36 What is Eigen Layer?
16:09 Decentralized Trust
24:07 Data Availability + Restaking Platform
28:51 User Journey
36:57 Slashing and Liquidation
45:43 Governance Layer
50:22 Incentives Structure
51:58 Business Model
53:44 What’s Next
1:00:41 The Protocol v/s The Company
1:01:47 Why Decentralization
