Puffer Finance

Puffer is a liquid restaking protocol: you deposit ETH, Puffer uses it to fund Ethereum validators whose stake is also restaked on EigenLayer, and you receive pufETH, a token whose value in ETH rises as rewards come in. Its docs describe it as a native liquid restaking protocol, meaning the ETH sits in validators pointed at EigenLayer pods, not in other staking tokens.

The website and app are run by the Puffer Foundation, which its terms of service describe as a Cayman Islands foundation company; those terms are governed by Cayman law and were last updated in November 2023. Puffer's blog names Amir Forouzani as a co-founder. According to Cointelegraph, Puffer raised an $18 million Series A in April 2024, led by Brevan Howard Digital and Electric Capital with Coinbase Ventures, Kraken Ventures and Franklin Templeton among the other backers. Its homepage also links coverage of an earlier $5.5 million round.

The PUFFER token governs the protocol. Its docs list a 1 billion maximum supply, with 26% for investors and 20% for early contributors and advisors, both on three-year schedules with a one-year cliff, and 13% for two airdrop seasons. Holders lock PUFFER as vlPUFFER, for 30 days to two years, to vote on fees, limits, bond sizes, guardians and restaking operators.

Puffer has two kinds of users. Stakers deposit any amount of ETH into the PufferVault and get pufETH. Node operators, which Puffer calls NoOps, run the 32 ETH validators that the stakers' ETH pays for. To join, a NoOp posts a bond of 2 ETH, held as pufETH, and buys validator tickets, ERC-20 tokens that each grant the right to run a staker-funded validator for one day.

The money flows in an unusual direction. NoOps keep 100% of their validators' consensus and execution rewards, including MEV. In exchange, the ETH they pay for validator tickets goes to pufETH holders up front. pufETH holders also receive restaking rewards from EigenLayer services, called AVSs, that Puffer's restaking operators run, after fees to those operators, to Puffer's guardians and to the protocol. The protocol's docs say ticket prices are set from the expected daily earnings of a validator, so the ticket price largely sets pufETH's yield. DefiLlama showed pufETH at about 2.5% in October 2026; for how that compares with other restaking tokens, see how Puffer compares with other liquid restaking providers.

Puffer's distinguishing design choice is protection against slashing. NoOps must hand encrypted validator keyshares to Guardians running in secure enclaves, which can eject a validator whose balance falls too low or whose tickets run out, and Puffer supports anti-slashing hardware for operators. The protocol caps itself, through a burst threshold, at 22% of Ethereum's validator set. Its docs still describe some parts as in progress: withdrawing consensus rewards from EigenPods is temporarily disabled because EigenLayer's partial withdrawal proofs are too costly.

For stakers, the main costs are on the way out and inside the yield.

For node operators, the cost is the price of validator tickets, which changes with expected validator earnings, plus the 2 ETH bond, which earns pufETH yield while locked.

Puffer says in a July 2026 security post that its core contracts were audited by Trail of Bits, Nethermind and Creed in sequence, in addition to reviews by BlockSec, SlowMist and Quantstamp and an open Immunefi competition. The contracts use OpenZeppelin's Access Manager and three multisigs. The docs describe a 3-of-6 Operations multisig run by the team, whose upgrades wait out a seven-day timelock; a 3-of-6 Community multisig of outside Ethereum figures and audit firms that can veto those actions or skip the timelock; and a 1-of-9 Pauser multisig wired to BlockSec monitoring that can pause the contracts in an emergency. The seven days also give holders time to leave if they object to an upgrade.

The node operator bond is meant to absorb losses before stakers do. Puffer states the bond is sized so staker principal stays whole even if 2% of all staked ETH were slashed at once, because slashed operators' pufETH bonds are burned first. Puffer also says it processed more than $1 billion of redemptions after withdrawals opened without pausing or gating them. Those are company statements; we found no hack or loss event in the documentation and announcements reviewed in October 2026.

The risks that remain are mostly structural:

• Restaking slashing: pufETH's ETH is exposed to EigenLayer services as well as Ethereum, so a fault in an AVS can cost stake. For a wider look, see the restaking risk few holders price in.
• Shrinking market: with about $27 million left, pufETH trades in thin pools, so selling on a DEX can cost more than the 1% instant withdrawal fee or the wait.
• Product changes: the homepage asks holders of the existing UniFi vault to withdraw ahead of a new vault, a reminder that Puffer's products are being reworked.
• Off-chain dependencies: Guardians, enclaves and the batching backend that processes withdrawals are run by Puffer and its partners.
• Bridges: pufETH and PUFFER move between chains through LayerZero, Chainlink CCIP and xERC20 routes, each with its own security model.

Staking is done at app.puffer.fi with a self-custody wallet: deposit ETH and receive pufETH, which accrues value automatically. Institutions can also reach pufETH through Anchorage Digital, which Puffer says it works with for regulated custody. Running a validator needs 2 ETH, validator tickets and the operator setup in Puffer's node docs.

To leave, use the reverse button in the app. A 1-step withdrawal converts pufETH to WETH in one transaction for a 1% fee, if the vault has liquidity. A 2-step withdrawal is free: you sign a permit, submit a request, and claim WETH from the Withdrawal Claims tab once the batch is processed, which can take up to about 14 days if validators must be exited from Ethereum and EigenLayer. You can also sell pufETH on a DEX, at whatever price the pool gives.

Much of Puffer's recent work is outside liquid restaking. UniFi is a based rollup, an Ethereum layer 2 whose transactions are ordered by Ethereum's own block proposers, and Puffer Preconf is an EigenLayer service that gives such rollups sub-second confirmations. Puffer announced Google Cloud and Anchorage Digital as UniFi partners in 2026 and said in March 2026 that UniFi AVS had received an Eigen Foundation grant and that pufETH was live on MegaETH.

Support runs through the docs, Discord and X (@puffer_finance), with governance on governance.puffer.fi. Airdrop claims are at claims.puffer.fi, the address linked from Puffer's homepage; claim pages on other domains should be treated as phishing.

Dates come from Puffer's docs and blog, DefiLlama's TVL history and press coverage.

• November 2023: Puffer Foundation terms of service published.
• Early 2024: DefiLlama’s TVL series begins, passing $1.3 billion by April.
• 16 April 2024: $18 million Series A, according to Cointelegraph.
• June 2024: TVL peaks at about $1.72 billion on DefiLlama.
• October 2024: snapshot for airdrop Season 1; Season 2 begins.
• 2025 to 2026: TVL falls below $300 million by January 2025 and to about $27 million by October 2026.
• March 2026: Eigen Foundation grant for UniFi AVS; pufETH expands to MegaETH.
• July 2026: Puffer publishes its security architecture post.