Lombard partners with Eigen Foundation to bring Bitcoin restaking to EigenLayer ecosystem

The Bitcoin restaking platform Lombard and the Eigen Foundation, which oversees governance of the Ethereum restaking protocol EigenLayer, have partnered to bring Lombard's liquid staked bitcoin token, LBTC, into the EigenLayer restaking ecosystem.

EigenLayer is a protocol that lets stakers reuse their staked assets across decentralized services. 

This latest partnership will allow bitcoin holders to earn base yield via the Bitcoin staking protocol Babylon as well as rewards through EigenLayer's restaking, according to a release shared with The Block.

Lombard Finance and the Eigen Foundation also plan to bolster Bitcoin restaking security and slashing design over the next six months through their partnership. More broadly, the two organizations aim to grow Bitcoin beyond a store of value into a tool for accessing yield and utility through expanded LBTC use cases.

"Partnering with EigenLayer creates a landmark moment for Bitcoin, bringing LBTC as the first BTC asset into the restaking ecosystem," Lombard Finance co-founder Jacob Phillips told The Block in an email. "This collaboration unlocks new rewards opportunities for Bitcoin holders while strengthening decentralized infrastructure across the ecosystem." 

"Lombard is an incredible addition to the ecosystem, their impressive experience in the BTC ecosystem will be a welcome force to provide additional and diverse security to AVSs," said Luke Hajdukiewicz, Eigen Lab's head of AVS business development, in an email to The Block. 

Lombard's partnership with EigenLayer comes amid broader moves to bolster Bitcoin staking adoption. The platform launched a new tool for developers to more easily integrate LBTC minting and Bitcoin staking into their decentralized applications on April 17, with the crypto exchanges Bybit and Binance onboarded as early users, The Block previously reported. It raised $16 million last year to expand LBTC.

Bitcoin is the world's most valuable cryptocurrency by market capitalization of $1.9 trillion , according to The Block's BTC price page.