In December, the total value locked (TVL) in the Swell decentralized finance (DeFi) liquid staking protocol doubled, surpassing 105,000 ETH (~$250 million), according to data from the dashboard on Dune by the analyst Hildobby from Dragonfly.
Approximately $125 million worth of ETH has flowed into the platform since the beginning of the month. As a result, Swell has become one of the largest protocols in terms of TVL in its segment, where leaders include:
– Lido — >9 million ETH ($21.97 billion)
– Rocket Pool — 822,500 ETH ($2.91 billion)
– Frax — 236,000 ETH ($1.39 billion)
The influx of funds accelerated in mid-December, following the announcement of the Pearl rewards program in the form of points for users who mint the native swETH token and engage with it on the EigenLayer staking platform.
The protocol allows users to restake assets they received in exchange for locked ETH on other platforms. These coins can be utilized for verifying and securing external networks, such as sidechains or non-EVM-based blockchains.
EigenLayer aims to become a decentralized marketplace for Ethereum node operators and validators, allowing them to earn income for additional services.
In the second half of December, the staking platform developers expanded the list of supported assets, including swETH from Swell, sETH from Stakewise, xETH from Stader, oETH from Origin, ankrETH from Ankr, and Wrapped Beacon Ether (wBETH).
As of the time of writing, the Total Value Locked (TVL) for the EigenLayer service is $1.07 billion.
Similar to other protocols, users on Swell receive swETH tokens for staking their ETH. These tokens can be leveraged on other DeFi ecosystem platforms to generate additional income.
