Dialogue with Puffer: Amid the LRT competition, why did top-tier capital such as Binance Labs and Franklin place their bets?
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Dialogue with Puffer: Amid the LRT competition, why did top-tier capital such as Binance Labs and Franklin place their bets?
Committed to becoming Ethereum's base layer.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsInterviewers: flowie, kit, ChainCatcher
Guest: Amir, Founding Contributor of Puffer Finance
Editor: Marco, ChainCatcher
In today’s fiercely competitive restaking narrative, Puffer Finance isn’t the fastest mover. On May 8, Puffer Finance announced its mainnet launch, with its token generation event (TGE) and airdrop still underway.
Yet for Amir, founding contributor of Puffer Finance, Puffer is positioned as an Ethereum base layer—and there are no shortcuts on this path. “The native staking and permissionless network that Puffer aims to build must resolve numerous trust issues and technical barriers,” he said.
Rather than pouring energy into market hype early on, Amir prioritizes user security, preferring to incrementally identify and meet user needs through steady progress.
Amir’s methodical product development approach reflects his engineering background. He earned degrees in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and the University of Southern California. Shortly after graduation, Amir joined NASA as an engineer, exploring how AI could empower the aerospace industry.
During this time, Amir—an avid crypto enthusiast—began investigating how blockchain technology could address privacy and trust challenges arising from AI. Later inspired by a research paper from the Ethereum Foundation, Amir and his college classmate Jason Vranek entered the Ethereum staking space, focusing on solutions to complex trust problems, ultimately founding Puffer Finance.
Puffer Finance reduces the staking threshold from 32 ETH to just 1 ETH, significantly improving capital efficiency for node operators. Its slashing-resistant technology, built on Intel SGX hardware, along with economic guarantees from Ethereum node operators, further mitigates users’ risk of asset slashing. After the mainnet launch, Puffer Finance plans to roll out its own AVS (Actively Validated Services). The protocol currently holds nearly $1.8 billion in TVL.
Recently, Puffer Finance announced an $18 million Series A funding round, attracting not only crypto-native investors such as Brevan Howard Digital and Electric Capital, but also exchange funds like Coinbase Ventures and traditional finance giant Franklin Templeton.
Previously, Puffer Finance secured three earlier funding rounds, drawing participation from notable entities including Binance Labs, Jump Crypto, and EigenLayer founder Sreeram Kannan.
A NASA Engineer's Journey into AI and Crypto
1. ChainCatcher: According to your LinkedIn, you worked as an engineer at NASA before founding Puffer Finance. What prompted your transition into the crypto space? Could you share other key experiences?
Amir: At NASA, I was part of an innovative team focused on how emerging technologies like AI can enhance the aerospace industry.
Even before joining NASA, I had already started using cryptocurrencies and was deeply fascinated by the new financial paradigms enabled by blockchain.
My journey into becoming a blockchain developer began with my exploration of AI and blockchain.
With the emergence of AGI and ChatGPT, we realized user privacy data wasn't adequately protected and was vulnerable to leaks. This led us to study zero-knowledge proofs and trusted execution environments (TEEs), exploring both hardware- and math-based solutions for verifiable computing.
We once built a privacy-preserving decentralized search engine during a hackathon, encrypting user queries. That project laid a critical architectural foundation for Puffer Finance.
2. ChainCatcher: You mentioned in a public podcast interview that you and Puffer Finance CTO Jason Vranek were inspired by Justin Drake, an Ethereum Foundation researcher, to enter the Ethereum base layer space. How long did your research take, and what market pain points were you aiming to solve?
Amir: Initially, we wanted to use verifiable technologies to address slashing risks in LSDs (Liquid Staking Derivatives).
While researching verifiable computing, we identified many trust issues in Ethereum’s liquid staking process. Users deposit funds into liquid staking providers, who act as intermediaries, channeling those funds to centralized node operators and trusting them to validate and distribute rewards.
This introduces significant risks. For example, what happens if a node operator gets slashed?
In June 2022, Justin Drake from the Ethereum Foundation published a paper titled "Liquid solo validating," discussing how hardware could reduce slashing risks for individual validators and improve capital efficiency in LSDs.
Inspired by this paper, we developed a slashing-resistant solution for Solo Staking / Home Staking around late 2022—what we now call Secure-Signer technology—based on Intel SGX to prevent slashing.
Additionally, Secure-Signer allows Puffer to safely lower the validator requirement from 32 ETH to just 1 ETH, dramatically reducing the barrier to entry for solo stakers. This technology has also received funding from the Ethereum Foundation.
Beyond Restaking: Building the Ethereum Base Layer
3. ChainCatcher: Puffer Finance has repeatedly emphasized that your narrative extends beyond restaking. What is your positioning, and how do you differentiate from other restaking protocols?
Amir: First, Puffer Finance is the only permissionless liquid staking protocol on Ethereum, allowing any individual capable of running a node to participate.
Second, many LRT or LST protocols are essentially simple smart contracts that offload much of their infrastructure to centralized operators. In contrast, Puffer is building toward becoming a foundational layer for Ethereum, making decentralized operation of Ethereum validators more feasible. We aim to unlock more functionality for users—one of which is restaking.
Restaking enables sharing of security within Ethereum’s PoS mechanism, offering additional rewards to stakers and node operators.
Going forward, Puffer plans to leverage restaking to further advance the Ethereum stack. The Ethereum stack still faces unresolved issues—such as composability and severe liquidity fragmentation across Layer 2s.
Moreover, Puffer is actively exploring cutting-edge areas like applying our expertise in AI to secure on-chain data processing.
4. ChainCatcher: Puffer Finance has reduced the staking threshold from 32 ETH to 1 ETH. What were the key challenges during development?
Amir: Many people ask me why Puffer seems slower compared to some competitors.
My response is that Puffer is building native staking and a permissionless network. Constructing such a trustless system takes time—you must solve not only game-theoretic problems arising from distrust, but also numerous technical hurdles.
We needed to consider: How do we trust node operators won’t go offline? And if they do, how do we respond? Arbitrary downtime by node operators exposes users to financial and opportunity costs.
To address this, we introduced economic bonding and penalty mechanisms. Under these rules, if a node operator goes offline or gets slashed, they lose their own funds—effectively protecting users.
Smart contract-triggered validator withdrawals weren’t available on Ethereum until the Pectra upgrade at the end of 2024 or early 2025. Before then, we had to create custom off-protocol solutions to work around missing functionality.
5. ChainCatcher: While restaking increases capital efficiency, it also introduces new slashing risks. Beyond lowering staking thresholds, how does Puffer Finance ensure the security of liquid stakers and node operators? What are the key challenges?
Amir: Absolutely, it increases risk because you’re using the same assets to secure more activities.
Currently, restaking slashing functionality hasn’t gone live yet. Once it does, LRT protocols like ours must be extremely cautious to protect users from impending slashing risks.
We are carefully analyzing every AVS (Actively Validated Service), closely monitoring their slashing rules.
For AVSs whose slashing rules are exposed to external risks—such as fluctuations in the US dollar—it becomes difficult to predict or resist slashing volatility. We strive to ensure users don’t interact with such AVSs.
Additionally, we’re collaborating with teams like EigenLayer to standardize key management and slashing resistance for AVSs.
Puffer V2 will launch in the coming months. Our goal is to ensure all user keys are protected across every layer—from staking and restaking to any future applications we offer—all safeguarded under staking security.
With our recent enablement of permissionless validators, we are now using automation to closely monitor validator operations.
6. ChainCatcher: Puffer Finance recently launched its mainnet. What are the key changes compared to the testnet phase?
Amir: The Puffer mainnet launch means native liquid restaking is now live. stETH deposited into Puffer is withdrawn from Lido and converted back to ETH, further decentralizing the Ethereum network.
Additionally, stakers can now earn rewards from AVSs. Anti-slashing and secure key management features reduce slashing risks during staking and restaking.
7. ChainCatcher: What are the next major milestones on your roadmap?
Amir: Our next goal is to further lower the staking threshold—ideally approaching zero ETH—to become a fully permissionless and decentralized protocol.
Specifically post-mainnet this year: First, we’ll expand to several Layer 2 networks, offering users lower gas fee options.
Second, we’ll roll out withdrawal functionality. I know some protocols have opened withdrawals early, but Puffer wants to ensure user safety by completing all checks before gradually enabling access. We’ll offer two withdrawal methods: fast withdrawals and a traditional option similar to Lido’s.
Furthermore, while AVS currently lacks penalty mechanisms, this will change soon and become crucial. Puffer plans to launch its own AVS, offering higher rewards to its stakers and node operators through staking.
I believe by the end of 2024, the market will see Puffer Finance and similar LSD/LRT protocols introduce a new paradigm for Ethereum—one as transformative as Layer 2s have been.
8. ChainCatcher: What will be the key features of Puffer Finance’s upcoming AVS service?
Amir: AVS is part of our roadmap—offering customized services for more complex nodes, with vast potential application scenarios and significant room for innovation.
For instance, amid the current wave of on-chain AI, one of the biggest needs for AI+Crypto projects may be verifiable computing and trusted execution environments. Given Puffer’s prior experience in AI+Crypto development and our architecture planning for Layer 2s—combined with our operation at the base layer and access to trusted execution environments—we are uniquely positioned to deliver distinctive AVS offerings.
Puffer also focuses on improving the Ethereum base layer itself—areas like transaction processing, MEV, and timely finality all offer room for enhancement. Beyond providing a data availability layer for EigenLayer, I believe Puffer can deliver even more high-quality services.
The LRT War Has Just Begun
9. ChainCatcher: Some restaking protocols have already conducted TGEs and distributed airdrops. What are Puffer Finance’s plans in this regard? When do you expect it to happen? Has the points incentive program been adjusted?
Amir: Tokens are essential for community governance—we need to make sure the community is well supported.
My team and I are working hard toward TGE and hope to choose the right timing. I can’t disclose the exact date yet, but updates will come soon.
Puffer’s points incentive program has entered Chapter 4, introducing a new points mechanism and expanding the ecosystem. Participants who continue staking will earn increased rewards.
10. ChainCatcher: Puffer Finance has raised funding from many prominent investors—including exchange-affiliated funds like Binance Labs, traditional finance giants like Franklin Templeton, and EigenLayer founder Sreeram Kannan. What do you think is the biggest draw for investors?
Amir: First, Puffer is dedicated to pioneering frontier technologies based on Ethereum.
Second, investors in our recent $18 million raise likely see strong potential in Puffer’s upcoming upgrades, which will deliver enhanced ecosystem services to users.
Additionally, Puffer is a community-driven project. We deeply understand community needs and are committed to co-building Puffer with our users.
11. ChainCatcher: Ethereum’s staking rate is currently around 30%. With the rise of restaking, what breakthroughs do you foresee in the Ethereum staking market? What stage is the restaking competition currently in?
Amir: The Ethereum staking rate will inevitably hit a ceiling, and some projects may impose limits. This creates room for restaking to generate additional returns. Currently, restaking is still in its very early stages—everything is just beginning. Most protocols, like Puffer, are still in the roadmap and planning phase, with much more to be implemented in practice.
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