Gearbox’s Leveraged Re-Staking Trade Attracts Over 2,600 ETH in One Day

Gearbox is the first decentralized finance protocol to add leverage into the Ethereum liquid re-staking trade and degens are flocking in.

Gearbox pulled in over 2,600 of liquid restaking token (LRT) weETH, or $7.9M, in 24 hours. The leverage-focused app integrated with EtherFi, the issuer of weETH, to start enabling leverage on LRTs.

A cap on the weETH pool has already been met, but Gearbox hinted on X that an integration with liquid restaking protocol Renzo may be next.

Gearbox is allowing users to use weETH tokens as collateral to take out loans worth nine and a half times what was deposited, at an annual borrow cost of roughly 14%, according to a spreadsheet provided by the team.

Airdrop Anticipation

Traders are levering up on LRTs with the expectation they will receive more tokens in one of crypto’s most anticipated airdrops.

The airdrop in question is tied to Eigenlayer, the hyped solution which allows users to deposit staked ETH in order to offer the network’s security to still other projects. EtherFi is also expected to distribute tokens to users.

Eigenlayer and EtherFi are running point systems, a trend in crypto which projects use to reward users. As projects have used points to allocate airdrops at a later date, crypto users now expect any points system will translate into tradable tokens down the line.

Gearbox says its strategies allow for a multiple of 9.5 on Eigenlayer points and 19 on EtherFi points.

The quick deposits of what is over $7.5M worth of ETH shows that users are hungry to lever up on accruing those points.

Gearbox offers leverage through its Credit Account model which pools one party’s funds with other users’ who are providing liquidity for a yield.

Gearbox warned in a Feb. 19 post that users will forfeit their accrued points if they close their Credit Account.

They also warn that users risk liquidation if weETH de-pegs from ETH. WeETH has $57 million of liquidity, versus over one billion for ETH, which means the token can be volatile.

EtherFi issues weETH to represent ETH deposits in its protocol. Those funds then get deposited in EigenLayer, which stakes those funds to Ethereum, and uses staked ETH to secure other applications.

The restaking sector is booming, with Eigenlayer’s total value locked soaring to $7.6 billion from $250 million at the start of the year as the protocol continues to lift deposit caps.