Eigen Labs acquires Rio Restaking, opens LRT code

Eigen Labs, the company behind the EigenLayer protocol, has announced the acquisition of the restaking platform Rio Network. The deal will see Rio’s intellectual property code made open source.

According to an announcement on June 12, the acquisition was carried out through two separate transactions. The Eigen Foundation is acquiring Rio Network’s intellectual rights, including its liquid restaking token (LRT) technology, which will be open-sourced as a reference implementation in the EigenLayer ecosystem.

Meanwhile, Eigen Labs is the new home of Rio’s team, with a particular emphasis on developing EigenLayer. The companies did not disclose the value of the deal.

Staking in blockchain involves locking up crypto assets to support network operations and security, typically in proof-of-stake (PoS) systems where users’ staked assets help validate transactions and maintain consensus. Restaking expands this concept by allowing staked assets to simultaneously secure additional protocols or layers without needing to be unstacked from the original network. Users receive crypto rewards for staking tokens and securing networks.

Both EigenLayer and Rio Network focus on optimizing the utility of staked assets, although operating with distinct approaches and objectives.

EigenLayer enables users to reuse their already staked assets, like Ether ( ETH ), to secure additional blockchains. Rio, on the other hand, offers a liquid representation of staked assets. Users deposit their assets and receive an LRT proportional to their stake in return, which can be traded on secondary markets while their original stake continues to earn rewards.

As an analogy, consider EigenLayer as the railway tracks that provide infrastructure for staked assets to move onchain, while Rio is more like a train ticket to restaking.

According to DefiLlama data, EigenLayer’s total value locked is nearing $20 billion at the time of writing. The protocol’s mainnet was launched in 2023 after raising $50 million in Series A funding led by Blockchain Capital, along with Coinbase Ventures, Polychain Capital, Electric Capital and Finality Capital Partner.

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