Why Delegated Security Models Will Win Over Purist Ideology

The Problem: New protocols must bootstrap billions in security from scratch, a slow and capital-inefficient process. The Solution: A marketplace for pooled cryptoeconomic security, allowing Ethereum stakers to re-stake ETH to secure other networks (AVSs).

• $18B+ TVL secured, proving massive demand for shared security.
• Enables rapid innovation by decoupling security provisioning from protocol development.

The Problem: Monolithic blockchains force every node to verify all data, creating high hardware costs and centralization pressure. The Solution: A pluggable Data Availability (DA) layer that lets rollups post data cheaply and securely without running their own validator set.

• ~$0.01 per MB data posting cost vs. Ethereum's ~$100+.
• Enables sovereign rollups with their own execution and governance, secured by delegated consensus.

The Problem: Bitcoin's immense $1T+ security is siloed and yields no utility beyond its own chain. The Solution: Protocols to timestamp and slash PoS chains using Bitcoin's proof-of-work, creating the first trust-minimized bridge for security.

• Taps into the most decentralized and secure asset ledger.
• Provides finality and slashing for Cosmos zones and other PoS chains without new trust assumptions.

The Problem: Launching a performant, secure rollup is still a complex, months-long engineering feat. The Solution: RaaS platforms that abstract away node ops, sequencing, and security via delegated restaking pools.

• One-click deployment of EigenLayer-secured rollups.
• Provides shared sequencing layers (like Espresso) for atomic cross-rollup composability.

The Problem: The 'full node for all' purist model creates unsustainable hardware requirements and barriers to entry. The Solution: A professionalized security economy where capital providers (stakers) and node operators specialize, optimizing for efficiency and uptime.

• Mirrors cloud computing's evolution from on-premise servers to AWS.
• Higher yields for stakers, better security for apps, lower costs for users.

The Problem: Dozens of competing L2s with fragmented liquidity and security, creating a poor user experience. The Solution: A future where security is a cheap, commoditized layer (via EigenLayer, Babylon, etc.), and competition shifts to execution performance and UX.

• Unified security base enables seamless cross-chain interoperability (see Omni Network).
• Innovation focuses on virtual machines, prover design, and intent-based architectures (UniswapX, Across).

The purist vision of thousands of independent validators is a scaling bottleneck. It creates high capital requirements for node operators and poor UX for token holders, leading to centralization in practice (e.g., Lido, Coinbase).

• Capital Inefficiency: Locking 32 ETH per validator is a $100k+ idle asset.
• Operational Risk: Solo stakers face slashing risk and 24/7 uptime demands.

Delegated models like EigenLayer, Babylon, and Cosmos Interchain Security treat cryptoeconomic security as a pooled resource. Builders rent it, investors supply it.

• Instant Bootstrapping: New chains/AVSs launch with $1B+ in slashable security from day one.
• Yield Diversification: Stakers earn fees from multiple protocols (restaking) without new capital.

Monolithic chains (Solana) must internally scale security, execution, and data availability. Modular chains (Celestia, EigenDA) delegate each component to optimized networks. Security is just another module.

• Specialization Wins: Dedicated data layers (Celestia) and security layers (EigenLayer) outperform integrated stacks.
• Capital Reuse: The same staked ETH secures the settlement layer and hundreds of AVSs.

Delegation introduces soft trust in operator sets (e.g., EigenLayer operators, AltLayer sequencers). The market has priced this risk as acceptable for exponential scalability.

• Pragmatic Security: Slashing enforces cryptoeconomic trust, not pure decentralization.
• Network Effects: Liquidity begets liquidity; pooled security creates unbreakable moats for incumbents.

The highest ROI is in supplying security, not competing to create new blockchain L1s. Focus on restaking pools, operator middleware, and delegation infrastructure.

• Yield Aggregation: Protocols like Renzo, Kelp DAO abstract complexity for stakers.
• Operator Services: Tools for node monitoring, key management, and slashing insurance are critical.

Delegated security converges with intent-based architectures. Users express desired outcomes (via UniswapX, Across), and a network of specialized, secured solvers competes to fulfill them.

• Intent-Centric Future: Security is a hidden commodity powering seamless cross-chain UX.
• Vertical Integration: Expect consolidation where major staking pools (Lido) launch their own secured app-chains.