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Restaking

What is restaking?​

Restaking is the act of repurposing staked ETH for securing other networks or additional functions. Under Nektar’s restaking model, the stakers delegate their ETH to operators so it can be reused to secure other duties, in exchange for additional rewards.

How does restaking work?​

A set of Nektar smart contracts deployed on Ethereum enable ETH stakers and operators to opt in and participate in performing additional tasks to software modules alien to the ethereum validation itself.

These modules can include infrastructures like bridges, sequencers, oracles, and specialized data availability layers, or any other distributed systems or decentralized networks, either EVM compatible or not, that require their own distributed security.

In order to tap into the pooled security of Ethereum stakers, Nektar enables ETH staked in the Ethereum network to be repurposed to secure these modules, providing maximum capital efficiency. In exchange, users are compensated with the rewards distributed by the modules.

Roles and Capabilities​

Operators run nodes on the Diva Staking Protocol (DSP) and may opt-in to perform additional duties through the Nektar Restaking Protocol (NRP).

Stakers can participate in the network by staking ETH through the DSP.

Restakers can participate in the network by either native or LST restaking. At the moment, only divETH LST is supported for the latter. The process of restaking implies that restakers delegate their restaked ETH or LST to different operators within the Nektar Network.

Restaked ETH is being used as collateral by Operators performing additional duties for third parties. Similar to Ethereum validators, Nektar prevents malicious behavior by enforcing slashing conditions on operators’ actions.

The roles of restakers and operators are interconnected. Operators must strive for optimal performance to attract restakers, while restakers must conduct thorough research and exercise caution to protect their assets from being slashed.

Marketplace for Decentralized Trust​

Nektar is a permissionless, open and dynamic marketplace for decentralized trust. The network allows:

  • Modularization and delegation of the consensus security
  • Leveraging the same guarantees of Ethereum
  • Decentralized trust between an AVS and a decentralized application

Developers can benefit from the security provided by the collective pool of stakers, while restakers can support the development of their projects. In order to provide trust and security for actively validated services (AVSs), users need to restake their ETH through the method described above.