Restaking & Shared Security.

Restaking lets capital that already secures one network be pledged again to secure additional networks and services. Instead of every new protocol bootstrapping its own validator set and token incentives, it rents economic security from an existing pool — most visibly staked ETH — and pays for it in fees or its own token.

The appeal is capital efficiency on both sides: stakers earn layered yield on the same principal, and new services launch with meaningful security on day one. Liquid restaking tokens push this further by making the restaked position tradeable, which is why the category grew into one of the largest DeFi deposit bases in the space.

The risk is correlated and non-obvious. The same collateral backs multiple obligations, so slashing conditions stack, and a fault in one service can cascade into positions that never chose exposure to it. What matters is how many services a given pool actually secures, how slashing is scoped, and whether the yield being advertised is real fee revenue or token emissions with a shelf life.