As Ethereum restaking gains momentum, we wanted to take a moment to enumerate some of the risks that you as a user might be exposed to when choosing to restake your tokens. While restaking’s innovative consent can offer benefits to Ethereum staking, like generating more value for your staked tokens, it is also important to think clearly and consider some of these potential risks:
Slashing
As with any staking activity on Ethereum, your pledged ETH is subjected to networks rules that can result in the partial or total loss of your tokens, in the case of proven malicious activity that targets the network. Although slashing is a relatively rare occurrence (and has never happened to any of Chorus One’s validators), it is still the biggest risk you might be subjected to. When users are able to delegate tokens, they would be susceptible to slashing penalties from both Ethereum and Actively Validated Services (AVS's).
Smart contract risk
A more common source of risk is related to the smart contracts that govern the protocols and services on Ethereum, as they are susceptible to bugs on their code that can be exploited, as well as unexpected behavior under untested conditions. Projects built on Eigenlayer (like our OPUS 'Pool' restaking fuctions) ultimately secure their funds within the contracts of Eigenlayer. In the event of an attack on the Eigenlayer contract, the funds of associated projects may be jeopardized. This would be true as well of the code associated with different AVSs.
Eigenlayer has been audited twice in the past, a first audit done by Consensys Diligence, and a second audit done by Sigma Prime. You can read more about the auditing process here: https://docs.eigenlayer.xyz/eigenlayer/security/audits
Additional risks
Although the first two would be the most definitive scenarios that could have a direct effect on your restaked assets, there’s another suite of known (and possible unknown) risks that can be linked to this new technology:
Chorus One puts a premium on the security of all its users, recognizing its paramount importance in fostering trust and peace of mind. Through our comprehensive security framework, we ensure that your investments are well-protected: both, in our OPUS Pool and OPUS Dedicated products, in our underlying infrastructure, and at every step when deciding to onboard a network or protocol.
ISO 27001:2022 Certification
Chorus One adheres to stringent regulatory requirements, safeguarding your assets in accordance with data protection and privacy laws. In October 2023, we attained the coveted ISO 27001:2022 certification ensuring world-class security for all our customers.
Resilient infrastructure
We guarantee our high-quality of service with minimal disruptions, due to a strategic combination of multiple availability zones for our infrastructure; and network security procedures such as stringent access control, encrypted connections, firewall fortifications and security configurations. Our team is trained and provided with security awareness workshops to ensure our best line of defense.
Careful research process
Our dedicated research team conducts in depth due diligence on all the networks and protocols we onboard, to understand any potential risks we can be exposed to when participating on the systems. We go above and beyond to build a more security-minded ecosystem and to promote professional standards in the industry.
Learn more about Chorus One’s commitment to security here: https://security.chorus.one/
Chorus One is one of the biggest institutional staking providers globally operating infrastructure for 50+ Proof-of-Stake networks, including Ethereum, Cosmos, Solana, Avalanche, and Near, amongst others. Since 2018, we have been at the forefront of the PoS industry and now offer easy enterprise-grade staking solutions, industry-leading research, and also invest in some of the most cutting-edge protocols through Chorus Ventures.
