A16z Leads $70 Million Investment: Understanding What EigenCloud Is

Author: Viktor Bunin, Coinbase protocol expert; Translator: Jinse Caijing xiaozou

Congratulations to the EigenLayer team on the official launch of EigenCloud! From multiple perspectives, this can be regarded as the Holy Grail of the perfect integration of on-chain and off-chain computing paradigms. This article will specifically explore its core essence, so let's take a closer look.

1**, Core Issue: The crypto world is verifiable but has not achieved full programmability**

The core capability of blockchain lies in validating and ensuring computational correctness, but this capability only applies to on-chain information. Once off-chain data is involved, the trust model fails, and it must rely on oracles to bring extremely limited information on-chain. While this model can support certain applications like stablecoins, DeFi, and NFTs, it struggles in complex scenarios that require integration with the real world—these scenarios often necessitate invoking standard libraries, initiating API requests, and other typical "Web2" development operations.

2**, Solution: Build Verifiable Cloud to Enhance Cryptographic Programmability**

EigenCloud allows developers to migrate rich application logic to verifiable off-chain containers, retaining only the most basic consensus enforcement logic on-chain, while leaving front-end and other non-verifiable infrastructure in the existing public cloud. Token logic always resides on-chain, while application logic is primarily moved off-chain (while maintaining verifiability).

3**、EigenCloud Application Scenarios and Value Examples**

Trusted API Call -- API requests for isolated Web2 data can now directly trigger on-chain token logic. Users can prove any Web2 data characteristics in their private login information, breaking the Web2 data silo and achieving seamless migration of users to the blockchain.

Autonomous AI Agent -- Relying on the original property rights characteristics of blockchain and the programmable capabilities of EigenCloud, fully on-chain AI agents can act without human authorization: they can hold assets, enter into contracts, incur debts, and even create DAOs.

Enterprise Compliance Assurance -- Combining familiar cloud tools with blockchain-level audit trails to provide enterprises with a low-friction path for verifiable compliance and settlement.

4**、EigenVerify and EigenCompute will launch in 2025 to support **EigenCloud

EigenVerify ensures the correctness verification of the computation process, while EigenCompute packages the entire EigenLayer ecosystem into a developer-friendly toolkit.

5**、Cooperative Operation Mechanism Gradually Analyzed**

Containerized Deployment to EigenCompute: Developers create containers that house application logic, used to extend the token logic of any blockchain. The container is then deployed to EigenCompute, a platform that simplifies the matching process between suitable stakers and operating nodes.

EigenLayer****Ensuring Computational Security: Computational tasks are executed by the EigenLayer operating node set and are secured by a portion of the security capital specifically allocated by stakers for this application. The computation results, accompanied by a signed certificate, will be transmitted to the target blockchain. On-chain contracts can choose to immediately invoke these results with unique economic security or wait until the challenge period ends for higher security (similar to optimistic rollups).

EigenDA** Realizing Data Availability:** Computing data records to the Data Availability layer (DA), any observing node can independently verify the computation process through EigenDA.

EigenVerify****Challenge Verification: If a challenge is initiated, the original computation will be verified through the EigenVerify service—this service is specifically designed to re-execute computations for verification purposes. If the initial group of nodes is determined to be bad nodes, their staked assets will be slashed and allocated to the application party.

Token Fork ProtectionEigenDAandEigenVerify: If the majority of EIGEN stakers safeguarding EigenDA or EigenVerify engage in misconduct leading to process pollution, a fork of the EIGEN token will be triggered. This action will confiscate the staked assets of the malicious stakers and operational nodes, ensuring system integrity without solely relying on the credibility of a majority committee. Anyone can initiate a fork by destroying a specific ratio of native EIGEN tokens and will receive a larger amount of EIGEN tokens after the fork as a reward, thus ensuring sufficient incentives for triggering forks.

Applications**/**Chain Forks Enhance Security: Applications, services, or chains built on EigenCloud can choose to pre-commit and synchronize forks with EIGEN tokens. This ensures that applications and service outcomes always remain in a complete state on the correct forked chain.

6**、Conclusion**

It is important to emphasize that this is not a brand new concept. Many projects have tried different versions of similar solutions for its application, but none have gained popularity, fundamentally because users still need to maintain absolute trust in the application developers. EigenCloud is the first attempt to provide this functionality in the form of a service, and there is currently over $12 billion in staked capital providing security for the protocol.

Verifiable computation is more needed now than ever: it will drive the on-chain of global assets and provide immutable guarantees to users, regulators, and partners. Congratulations again to the EigenLayer team for this achievement, looking forward to the mainnet launch!