EigenLayer has officially launched its mainnet, introducing EigenLayer and EigenDA to the community. This move aims to bolster Ethereum validators' community, particularly those who frequently restake on EigenLayer, while meeting the increasing demand from operators, rollups, and AVSs.

Among the notable functionalities introduced are the ability for restakers to delegate to their chosen operator, operator registration with EigenLayer, and the option for AVSs to register with the protocol (currently in beta). However, the mainnet launch excludes an in-protocol payment segment and slashing, which are planned to be integrated later following the development and stabilization of the marketplace.

The launch is being celebrated for its numerous benefits, including hyper scalability, cost flexibility, ease of integration, and native token staking. Hyper scalability enables over 1,000 transactions on rollups, and the mainnet launch has been designed to support scalability effectively. Cost flexibility allows pricing based on demand and reserved bandwidth, with consideration for payments by native tokens in the future.

Native token staking is expected to be introduced soon, enabling rollups to utilize their native token for verifying DA-data availability through EigenDA. The ease of integration brings major players to the network, with Polygon CDK and Starkware set to join, while OP Stack and Arbitrum Orbit are already available for deployment through RAASs.

EigenDA aims to serve various services and applications such as social network transactions, on-chain order books, real-time gaming, and AI coprocessors storing outputs in DA. While most rollups are still under development, an official announcement regarding their deployment is anticipated.

EigenLayer views this launch as significant, with plans for upcoming features such as slashing and in-protocol payments. The platform expresses excitement about the development while committing to an early launch of AVSs, anticipating a high operator turnover as more AVSs, operators, and delegations come online.

This development follows EigenLayer's recent partnership announcement with a16z crypto, aimed at enhancing both ecosystems with better use cases in terms of quality and quantity. The community can expect safer and more useful crypto products as a result of this collaboration, aligning with EigenLayer's commitment to research, open-source contributions, and long-term engagement and support across the industry.