Restake Protocol Symbiotic officially launched yesterday, announcing that it had raised $5.8 million in funding from Paradigm and Cyber.Fund to fuel its development.
This protocol allows user deposits to secure third-party networks using a shared security model, competing with Ethereum’s first re-staking protocol, EigenLayer.
Similar to EigenLayer, Symbiotic seeks to reallocate existing staking capital and infrastructure to address common challenges in blockchain development and network security, such as attracting validators and securing funding.
Symbiotic depositors will be rewarded for contributing to the security of third-party networks. The protocol supports any combination of tokens as re-staking collateral and boasts a flexible, configurable, modular design that allows for customizable slashing and reward mechanisms.
The launch of Symbiotic coincides with the start of the bootstrapping phase and consolidation of re-staked collateral.
Symbiotic aims for a flexible, modular design.
Symbiotic differentiates itself from EigenLayer by allowing the use of a variety of ERC-20 tokens, which could potentially increase inflows to the protocol, rather than being limited to ETH and specific derivatives.
Initially focused on staked ETH (stETH), Symbiotic is adaptable to a variety of protocols, providing third-party protocol control over aspects such as asset support and node operator selection.
“Symbiotic’s modular design is extremely flexible. It supports any combination of tokens with re-staked collateral. The slashing and reward logic is fully configurable,” the project said.
Several projects at various stages of decentralization are exploring the use of Symbiotic’s re-staking primitives. Notable integrations include Ethena, Chainbound’s Bolt, Hyperlane, Marlin’s Kalypso, Fairblock, Ojo, Rollkit, and more.
EigenLayer, Ethereum’s first re-staking protocol, has experienced significant inflow into the protocol since its launch last year. Since early 2024, the total locked value of the protocol has increased from $1.4 billion to nearly $20 billion through multiple integrations (also known as actively verified services).
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