Do I have to unstake to try restaking?

No. If you hold a liquid staking token like stETH, rETH, or cbETH, you can usually deposit it into EigenLayer directly. Native ETH stakers can also point their withdrawal credentials at EigenLayer without unbonding.

How much extra APY can restaking add?

Reports vary widely — often 1-6% on top of base staking, but a lot of the early yield was in points rather than cash. Treat any quoted number as approximate and dependent on the AVSs you back.

Can I lose my ETH from restaking?

Yes. Every AVS you back adds its own slashing conditions. Smart-contract bugs in EigenLayer, in your liquid staking token, or in a liquid restaking wrapper can also cause losses.

What is a liquid restaking token (LRT)?

An LRT is a token you get when you deposit ETH or a liquid staking token into a restaking wrapper like ether.fi or Renzo. It represents your restaked position and can be traded or used in DeFi.

Are restaking rewards taxable?

In most places, restaking rewards are treated as income when you receive them and again as gains or losses when you sell. Rules differ by country, so check with a tax professional.

Is EigenLayer the only restaking platform?

It was the first at scale, but competitors and forks exist on Ethereum and on other chains. EigenLayer still holds the largest share of restaked ETH at the time of writing.

Should beginners try restaking?

Restaking adds several layers of risk on top of already-complex liquid staking. If you're new, it makes sense to get comfortable with plain staking first before adding AVS exposure.

How EigenLayer Restaking Changes Liquid Staking Yields

Restaking is one of those crypto ideas that sounds simple until you look under the hood. You take ETH that's already staked and let it pull double duty, backing other services on the Ethereum network at the same time. In return, those services pay you. That's the pitch. The reality has more moving parts.

EigenLayer is the biggest platform doing this today, and it's changing how people think about liquid staking yields. If you hold stETH or another liquid staking token, you can now point that token at extra services and try to earn more on the same underlying ETH. The catch is that the extra yield brings extra risk, and the numbers you see quoted are often less generous than they look.

What restaking actually does

When you stake ETH on Ethereum, your coins help secure the base chain. Restaking asks a second question: can those same coins also help secure other things? Those "other things" are called Actively Validated Services, or AVSs. They might be new bridges, data-availability layers, oracle networks, or side-chains that want strong security without building a validator set from scratch.

You (or an operator you delegate to) agree to run software for one or more AVSs. If the AVS is happy with your work, it pays you. If you break its rules, it can slash you — meaning a chunk of your stake gets taken. That's the trade in one sentence.

How the yield stack works

Restaking rewards sit on top of the yield you already get from how staking rewards work. A rough picture of the stack looks like this:

Layer	Illustrative APY	Paid in
Base Ethereum staking	~3-4%	ETH
Liquid staking wrapper (Lido, Rocket Pool)	-0.1% fee cut	ETH
EigenLayer points / AVS rewards	~1-6% (variable)	AVS tokens, ETH, or points
Liquid restaking token bonus	Varies	Protocol token

Numbers above are approximate and change constantly with demand, token prices, and how many AVSs are live. The AVS layer is the most volatile piece — early on, much of it was paid as "points" with no cash value at all.

Who uses restaking today

A few kinds of people show up:

Solo stakers who already run validators and want extra income without buying more ETH.
Liquid staking token holders who deposit stETH, rETH, or cbETH into EigenLayer and let an operator handle the work.
Liquid restaking token (LRT) users who deposit into wrappers like ether.fi or Renzo and get one token representing their restaked position, which they can trade or use in DeFi.

The LRT path is popular because it's the simplest. You deposit ETH once, hold one token, and try to capture yield from all three layers. But you're also stacking three layers of things that can break.

The new risks you take on

This is the part that matters. Restaking doesn't create free yield — it pays you for taking on new failure modes. A few worth knowing:

Extra slashing conditions. Every AVS you back can slash your stake for its own reasons. Back five AVSs, expose yourself to five sets of rules.
Operator risk. Most people delegate to an operator running the AVS software. If that operator's setup fails or gets hacked, delegators can eat the loss.
Smart-contract risk. Each layer — the liquid staking protocol, EigenLayer itself, the LRT wrapper — is more code that could contain a bug. See staking risks for the general shape of this.
Depeg risk. Liquid restaking tokens can trade below the value of the ETH backing them, especially during stress.
Correlated failures. If a shared operator runs many AVSs, one mistake can slash you across several at once.

Is EigenLayer restaking worth the added yield

Honest answer: it depends on the math on the day you look. Restaking is a genuine building block — services really do need security, and it's reasonable to pay for it. But the reward side has often been dominated by points and speculative token launches, while the risk side is real from day one. A conservative reader might stick with plain liquid staking until AVS revenue is paid mostly in cash rather than promises. Someone comfortable with DeFi complexity might restake a small slice of their position through a well-audited operator and see what shows up. If you're weighing this against other options, our page on crypto passive income ideas gives more context on where restaking fits.