Lido Co-Founders, Paradigm Secretly Back EigenLayer Competitor as DeFi Battle Lines Form
Summary
Lido's co-founders are secretly funding a competitor to EigenLayer, called Symbiotic, with backing from Cyber Fund and Paradigm. Symbiotic will allow users to "restake" using Lido's staked ether (stETH) token and other ERC-20 assets. The emergence of Symbiotic underscores the growing interest in restaking, with potential to challenge EigenLayer. Liquid restaking startups have impacted Lido's stETH market. Lido DAO proposed the "Lido Alliance" to grow an Ethereum-aligned ecosystem around stETH. Symbiotic's approach to collateral and permissionless protocol is seen as innovative. Integration discussions with Renzo are underway, and Symbiotic is expected to launch by the end of the year.
