EigenCloud (prev. EigenLayer) wallet

What is EigenCloud (prev. EigenLayer) (EIGEN)?

EIGEN is the token of EigenLayer, the Ethereum restaking protocol that now operates under the EigenCloud name. The protocol lets ETH and liquid staking tokens that already secure Ethereum be reused to secure additional services, called AVSs, such as the EigenDA data availability layer. EIGEN itself has a narrower job: it backs the services whose faults cannot be proven purely by on-chain math, so EIGEN that has been restaked behind them can be penalised when token holders collectively judge that an operator misbehaved.

What a holder actually keeps is a plain ERC-20 on Ethereum mainnet, with ETH paying the gas. Two details are specific to this token:

• EIGEN is a wrapper around a second token, bEIGEN. When you restake through the protocol, EIGEN is unwrapped into bEIGEN and locked in the restaking contract; it leaves your wallet balance and only returns after you queue a withdrawal and wait out the protocol's delay. bEIGEN is not meant to be held or traded on its own, so if that ticker shows up in an explorer, it is your restaked position, not a separate asset.
• The token also exists on Base as a bridged version. Same ticker, same address format, different network, and a transfer sent on the wrong one lands somewhere the recipient may not be watching.

A wallet balance of EIGEN does nothing by itself; it does not rebase or accrue. It only changes when you move it, restake it or bridge it.

Supported networks in Tangem (2): Base, Ethereum. Because one EIGEN address answers on more than one EVM chain, Tangem shows on the phone which network an outgoing transfer uses before the card is tapped to sign, so you check it while you can still stop. For an asset that lives on two chains and doubles as a restaking position, that visible network check is the practical reason to keep it here.