What Is an AVS?
An AVS, actively validated service, is extra work that restaked ETH is asked to secure: an oracle, a bridge watcher, a data-availability layer, a coprocessor. EigenLayer popularized the term. The pitch is reuse Ethereum's economic security for new networks. The cost is stacking new ways to get slashed.
How It Actually Works
- You (or a protocol you deposit into) restake ETH or an LST and opt into one or more AVSs. Operators run the extra software. If they cheat or fail that service's rules, some of the restaked stake can be slashed.
- Yield is supposed to come from the AVS paying for that security. In practice a lot of early yield was points and emissions, not fees from a working product. My corporate staking page and the restaking entry cover the base layer this sits on.
- Each AVS is its own risk committee, even when the collateral is the same ETH. Ten AVSs is not diversification if one operator runs all ten.
Risks and Common Mistakes
- Stacked slashing. A bug or malice in an AVS can burn stake that was also securing Ethereum. You took more jobs with the same bond.
- Operator concentration. Convenience routes restakers to the biggest operators, the same gravitational pull as validator pools.
- Unpaid security. If the AVS cannot pay real fees, the "yield" is a token or points. That is a different product than rented security.
When It Matters
Any restaking deposit that lists services you have not read. If you cannot name what the AVS does and how it slashes, you are not being paid for security. You are being paid to not read. Framework: DeFi page.
Related Terms
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