Google Cloud has launched its EigenLayer mainnet node operator, a major growth for the restaking protocol and its ecosystem.
In an X publish on April 10, Sam Padilla, web3 product supervisor and node operator at Google Cloud, stated, “Excited to share that the Google Eigen Layer mainnet operator is up and operating! Congrats to the EigenLayer workforce on a profitable mainnet launch.”
Google Cloud had beforehand taken half in EigenLayer’s “Operator Working Group” alongside 65 different operators and solo stakers, the developer behind EigenLayer reportedly stated in an announcement.
Google Cloud web3 is at present listed as a node operator on the Goerli testnet for EigenLayer, a restaking protocol that enables ether (ETH) to be staked on a number of platforms directly. The protocol went reside for stakers in June.
Nevertheless, operators who enhance safety and permit stakers to delegate property have been on the testnet till now. The deployment of Google Cloud’s mainnet operator is a essential step in the direction of realizing EigenLayer’s true imaginative and prescient.
Google Cloud, Google’s cloud computing service, has been steadily marching into Web3 since Bloomberg first revealed the corporate’s formation of a blockchain arm in January 2022.
Later that 12 months, Google Cloud released the Blockchain Node Engine, a service meant to let builders run blockchain community nodes extra simply. Google Cloud launched a web3 startup program in April 2023.
Google Cloud has proven curiosity in staking earlier than the EigenLayer integration, turning into a Polygon validator in September. Nevertheless, the tech behemoth made a comparatively modest funding: Google Cloud has the second-smallest stake amongst greater than 100 validators.
In October 2023, the cross-chain protocol LayerZero announced a partnership with Google Cloud, serving as LayerZero’s default oracle for verifying transactions between blockchains.
Google Cloud’s entry into web3 has sparked debate, with some contemplating the large cloud computing service’s existence as a serious blow to decentralization.