Coinbase, Pantera back $29m raise for crypto staking protocol Symbiotic

Crypto staking protocol Symbiotic has announced a $29 million raise in its Series A funding round led by Pantera Capital.

Symbiotic, whose permissionless restaking platform went live on Ethereum (ETH) in January, announced the milestone on April 23. The funding round also attracted the backing of Coinbase Ventures as well as angel investors, including Aave (AAVE), Polygon (POL) and StarkWare among others.

According to Symbiotic, the raise brings its universal staking framework further into focus. With universal staking, the EigenLayer competitor aims to go beyond traditional restaking by offering a modular framework that supports flexible crypto-economic coordination. 

Symbiotic will leverage the new funding to accelerate its expansion, with a focus on building its core team, enhancing its software development kits and tooling, and expanding cross-chain integration. The SDKs and tooling will help streamline key integrations across multiple crypto networks. 

Other upcoming milestones include the implementation of slashing mechanisms and advanced risk modeling.

Since its January 2025 launch on the Ethereum mainnet, establishing the first shared security system, Symbiotic has integrated with 14 networks. The protocol says an additional 35 network integrations are currently in various stages of development.

“Universal Staking transcends restaking by creating a truly modular framework for all forms of crypto economic coordination. Where restaking connected networks with capital, Universal Staking enables alignment across a protocol’s entire lifecycle – from launch to maturity,” the protocol noted.

Some of the leading projects building with Symbiotic include interoperability platform Hyperlane, decentralized finance network Spark, and web3 unification layer Avail. Hyperlane allows stakers to secure validator sets via Symbiotic vaults, while Spark uses Symbiotic technology for customizable security. 

Router Chain, a VC-backed chain abstraction web3, also taps into Symbiotic for shared security. Ethereum validators can secure the Router protocol through Symbiotic vault, benefiting from restaking.

In a recent announcement, the Omni Foundation revealed a $10 million rewards initiative, with first phase of support targeted for SolverNet users with Symbiotic.