EigenLabs, an Ethereum staking protocol, raised USD 50 million in a Series A round led by Blockchain Capital, with participation from Electric Capital, Polychain Capital, and Coinbase Ventures, among others. This round brings the company’s total funding to USD 64.5 million.

The company hopes to use the funding to support its EigenLayer protocol, which it plans to launch in phases throughout the year.

Analyst QuickTake: In spite of market turmoil, cryptocurrency staking has seen a growing investor interest in the last few months with a number of startups raising funding. These include Diva , which raised USD 3.5 million , Kiln , which raised USD 17.6 million , and Texture , which raised USD 5 million . Additionally, major lending protocols such as MakerDAO and Aave have been making their own strides, particularly within Ethereum staking. Last month, MakerDAO deployed etherDAI , a liquid staking derivative for Ethereum that will be pegged to the value of ETH, and Aave launched V3 on the Ethereum network , which improves capital efficiency when staking. Eigen aims to differentiate itself by enabling users to redeploy already staked tokens.