Symbiotic has completed a $29 million Series A funding round, led by investment firms focused on Web3, including Pantera Capital and Coinbase Ventures. This financing supports Symbiotic in launching a new economic coordination layer—the Universal Staking Framework—aimed at enhancing blockchain security through staking mechanisms. The framework allows the use of multiple cryptocurrency combinations to secure both monolithic and modular Layer-1 and Layer-2 blockchain networks. Symbiotic co-founder Misha Putiatin stated that the framework supports protocols in seamlessly evolving security models throughout their lifecycle without the need to rebuild infrastructure. Paul Veradittakit, managing partner at Pantera Capital, described this staking layer as the next step in blockchain infrastructure, facilitating economic coordination between assets and networks and driving new use cases in DeFi. Fourteen networks have already adopted this coordination layer, with more expected to follow. Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson emphasized the importance of a cooperative economy in the crypto industry during the 2025 Paris Blockchain Week, pointing out that the current token economics and market structures are adversarial, limiting industry development. He called for establishing a cooperative and balanced token economic model to compete with traditional tech giants.

Cryptocurrency staking protocol Symbiotic closed a $29 million Series A funding round led by Web3-focused investment firms, including Pantera Capital and Coinbase Ventures, to support the launch of a new economic coordination layer for blockchain security. The round included more than 100 angel investors, with participation from major industry players including Aave, Polygon and StarkWare, the company said in an April 23 announcement shared with Cointelegraph. The closing of the funding round also marks the launch of Symbiotic’s Universal Staking Framework, which aims to be an economic coordination layer that bolsters blockchain security via staking. The new staking layer enables the use of any combination of cryptocurrencies to secure networks, including monolithic and modular  layer-1 and layer-2 blockchains, the announcement stated. “We’ve created a modular framework that lets protocols evolve security models over time while efficiently coordinating risk,” Misha Putiatin, co-founder of Symbiotic, told Cointelegraph. “This empowers protocols at every stage of their lifecycle to evolve their security models seamlessly without rebuilding infrastructure.” Related: Ethereum L2 development is ‘double-edged sword’ for ETH value The new staking layer is the “next step in blockchain infrastructure” due to unlocking “economic coordination between assets and networks that were previously impossible,” according to Paul Veradittakit, managing partner at Pantera Capital. “As the number and variety of onchain assets continue to increase, Symbiotic allows them to easily serve as economic security while enabling entirely new use cases across DeFi,” he added. Blockchain networks looking to bolster security can adopt Symbiotic’s network of decentralized validators that bring “programmable security” without the need to modify infrastructure. According to the company, 14 networks, including Hyperlane, Spark and Avail, have already adopted the new coordination layer, with 20 more expected to follow. The staking layer enables “any protocol, including L1s, bridges, oracles, and even emerging verticals like artificial intelligence or zero-knowledge systems, to configure their own validator sets, incentive mechanisms and slashing conditions without having to rebuild core infrastructure,” Putiatin said. Related: Bitcoin ETFs log $912M inflows in ‘dramatic’ investor sentiment boost Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson, speaking at Paris Blockchain Week 2025 , emphasized the need for collaborative economics in the crypto industry to counter growing competition from traditional tech firms entering the blockchain space. Crypto’s “ circular economy ,” which often means that the rally of a specific cryptocurrency is bolstered by funds exiting another token, is limiting the growth of the industry, said Hoskinson. “The problem right now, with the way we’ve done things in the cryptocurrency space, is the tokenomics and the market structure are intrinsically adversarial. It’s sum 0,” said Hoskinson. “Instead of picking a fight, what you have to do is you have to find tokenomics and market structure that allows you to be in a cooperative equilibrium.” “You can’t build a global ecosystem this way, and you can’t win this way,” he said. “Because here’s the thing. The incumbents are much larger.” Magazine: 3 reasons Ethereum could turn a corner: Kain Warwick, X Hall of Flame 

Symbiotic Completes $29 Million Financing, Launches Universal Staking Coordination Layer to Enhance Blockchain Security