Symbiotic, a new restaking protocol backed by Paradigm and cyber.Fund, officially launched on Tuesday. The protocol allows users to deposit their holdings to secure other blockchains, similar to Ethereum’s EigenLayer.
Symbiotic aims to improve blockchain development and security by efficiently utilizing existing staking resources. Users who deposit their tokens on Symbiotic will earn rewards for contributing to the security of other networks.
“Symbiotic is highly flexible and opens up an entirely new design space. Protocols at any stage of their decentralization journey can leverage Symbiotic. Projects can launch a trust-minimized and decentralized network with established operators on day one, expand the operator set of their existing ecosystem, increase the cost of attack by introducing additional stake, or align ecosystems by incorporating any configuration of multiple tokens in their network’s collateral base,” Symbiotic said on its website.
The protocol boasts a flexible design that accepts various ERC-20 tokens as collateral and allows customization of rewards and penalties. This launch coincides with the integration of the first liquid restaking platform for Symbiotic, called Mellow.
Unlike EigenLayer, Symbiotic allows for a wider range of tokens besides ETH, potentially attracting more users and capital. Initially focused on staked ETH (stETH), Symbiotic can adapt to various protocols, giving them control over supported assets and validator selection.
Several projects are already exploring integrations with Symbiotic, including Ethena, Chainbound’s Bolt, Hyperlane, Marlin’s Kalypso, Fairblock, Ojo, and Rollkit.
