In this news:
Welcome to The Protocol, CoinDesk's weekly wrap-up of the most important stories in cryptocurrency tech development. We’re Margaux Nijkerk and Sam Kessler, reporters on CoinDesk’s Tech team.
In this issue:
EigenLayer Finally Ready To Launch Critical Missing FeatureRootstockLabs Prepares To Release SDKs for Bitcoin Layer 2s Using BitVMXInside North Korea’s Favorite Crypto Laundering Tool: THORChainBitcoin Developer Proposes Hard Fork To Protect BTC From Quantum Computing Threats
This article is featured in the latest issue of The Protocol, our weekly newsletter exploring the tech behind crypto, one block at a time. Sign up here to get it in your inbox every Wednesday.
Network News
EIGENLAYER’S KEY FEATURE IS FINALLY COMING: EigenLayer, the restaking protocol, shared last week that it will finally introduce its long-awaited slashing feature on April 17, marking the protocol's first "feature-complete" version. Slashing will allow Actively Validated Services (AVSs) — apps built atop EigenLayer's restaking system — to penalize operators who fail to meet pre-established conditions, and reward those who do. EigenLayer originally pioneered the concept of restaking, a way for Ethereum users to secure additional protocols beyond the base layer by recommitting their staked Ether. Slashing was supposed to be a core part of this system, providing apps a way to punish bad actors by seizing a portion of their capital. Since slashing was not part of EigenLayer when it initially launched in 2024, it left room for competitors to gain market share. Symbiotic, which allows for the restaking of any asset, has been used by EigenLayer early adopters including Hyperlane, an interoperability framework, and Ethena, a popular synthetic dollar protocol. — Sam Kessler
.png)
