Glossary
TODO: Complete Terminology Reference
Key terms and acronyms used in EigenWatch documentation.
Core Concepts
Operator Entity running services on EigenLayer. Operators validate transactions and can be slashed if they misbehave.
Restaker An Ethereum staker who stakes their capital on EigenLayer through one or more operators, earning additional yield in exchange for additional risk.
Delegation The process of a restaker choosing an operator to stake their capital with.
AVS (Active Validator Set) A set of validators required to perform a specific task (e.g., data feed validation, threshold cryptography). AVSs are the "customers" of EigenLayer operators.
Slashing The process of forfeiting part or all of an operator's stake due to malicious or faulty behavior.
Risk Score EigenWatch's composite metric (0-100) reflecting an operator's likelihood of slashing. See Risk Scoring.
Reputation Historical track record of an operator's performance across multiple networks. See Reputation.
Telemetry Raw, unprocessed operational data about validators (uptime, attestations, proposals, etc.).
Oracle A system that publishes off-chain data on-chain for smart contracts to consume. EigenWatch publishes risk scores as an oracle.
Risk Terms
Slashing Condition A rule defined by an AVS that, if violated, triggers slashing.
Systemic Risk Risk affecting the entire EigenLayer ecosystem (e.g., multiple operators slashing simultaneously).
Correlation Risk Risk that multiple operators will face the same slashing event (e.g., if they run similar software).
Concentration Risk Risk from overexposure to a single operator or AVS.
Uptime Percentage of time an operator successfully performs its duties (validates transactions, proposes blocks).
APY Annual Percentage Yield - the expected annual return from staking with an operator (not guaranteed).
EigenLayer Terms
EigenLayer Protocol enabling restaking - the reuse of staked capital across multiple services.
Beacon Chain Ethereum's proof-of-stake consensus layer. Operators are validated by the beacon chain.
Middleware A protocol or service built on top of EigenLayer that requires operators. Synonymous with AVS.
Stake Capital locked up by operators (or delegated to operators) to secure a service.
Withdrawal Process of removing staked capital. EigenLayer has a queue system to prevent flash exits.
Slasher Contract EigenLayer smart contract that executes slashing logic.
Delegation Manager EigenLayer contract managing the delegation relationship between restakers and operators.
Data Terms
Last Updated Timestamp of when the data (e.g., risk score) was last updated.
Confidence EigenWatch's assessment of how confident a particular metric is (e.g., 0.92 = 92% confidence).
Staleness How old the data is. Fresh data was updated recently; stale data is old.
Backtest Historical simulation testing how a strategy would have performed using past data.
Time Series Data points collected over time, enabling trend analysis.
Operational Terms
Uptime SLA Service Level Agreement - a commitment to maintain a certain percentage of availability.
Incident An unexpected event that degrades service (e.g., API outage).
Deployment Releasing new code or features to production.
Hotfix An emergency fix for a critical issue.
Rate Limiting Restricting API requests to prevent abuse (e.g., 100 requests/minute).
Webhook An HTTP callback sent from EigenWatch to your system when an event occurs.
Terms Specific to This Document
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External References
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Status: NOT STARTED — Requires comprehensive terminology review