Symbiotic Launches ‘Relay’ to Bring Secure Staking Across Chains
Symbiotic, a universal staking protocol aiming to rival EigenLayer, has launched Relay, a groundbreaking software development kit (SDK). Relay empowers developers to seamlessly integrate asset staking on Ethereum and cross-blockchain stake verification into their protocols.
Staking, a cornerstone of blockchain security, involves validators committing collateral (“stake”) to process transactions and earn rewards. Restaking protocols, like Symbiotic, enable users to leverage their stake across multiple blockchains concurrently, maximizing yield. Relay acts as a generalized version of Symbiotic’s restaking technology, providing a comprehensive toolkit adaptable to virtually any crypto ecosystem.
The Symbiotic team highlights Relay’s ability to facilitate the creation of verifiable and secure coordination layers for decentralized applications (dApps) operating across diverse blockchains. The SDK integrates developers directly into the Symbiotic network, allowing them to configure networks for utilizing stake from one blockchain to verify activity on another. This functionality streamlines the development of bridges, oracles, rollups, and risk protocols secured by real stake and verifiable across user locations. It eliminates the need for bootstrapping validator sets, reliance on multi-signature schemes, or compromises to decentralization.
Relay’s impact extends to simplifying the development of multichain applications. Previously, these applications often required bespoke designs, leading to fragmentation and complexity. Relay introduces verifiable security from the outset, transforming the landscape of multichain application development.
The launch of Relay is a significant outcome of Symbiotic’s recent $29 million Series A funding round, spearheaded by Pantera Capital. Coinbase Ventures and over 100 angel investors participated in the round. Algys Ievlev, Symbiotic’s co-founder, emphasizes Relay’s ability to resolve the dilemma between using trusted relayers or costly custom infrastructure. Relay offers developers a cost-effective, secure, and user-friendly solution for leveraging real stake to verify outcomes across chains. Symbiotic anticipates that Relay will redefine cross-chain protocol coordination.
