The new middleware SDK, Symbiotic Relay, lets developers use staked crypto from any blockchain network to verify protocol decisions on other supported chains.
Symbiotic, a restaking protocol built on Ethereum with more than $1 billion in total value locked (TVL), unveiled a new middleware software development kit (SDK) today, June 3, called Symbiotic Relay.
Middleware refers to software that connects different systems – in this case, different blockchains. According to Electric Capital’s 2024 Developer Report, more than a third of active developers now build across multiple blockchains, up from just 10% in 2015.
According to a press release viewed by The Defiant, Symbiotic Relay allows developers to use staked crypto from one network to verify decisions made on another. For example, the team says developers could combine Bitcoin’s security, Ethereum’s flexibility, and Solana’s speed for a “unified” cross-chain experience.
Relay also promises to support stake coordination across tokens and consensus mechanisms.
“Until now, building secure multichain infrastructure meant expensive custom work or reliance on centralized relayers,” said Algys Ievlev, co-founder of Symbiotic, in a statement, continuing:
“Relay solves that. It makes verifiable, stake-backed coordination between chains as simple as a plug-in without any trust assumptions or permissioning, enabling secure outcomes across ecosystems.”
Symbiotic launched last year and saw its TVL rise to over $1 billion within a month.
Per the press release, Relay was a key focus of the company’s latest $29 million Series A round, which was led by Pantera Capital, with backing from Coinbase Ventures and angel investors from leading crypto projects like Aave, Ether.fi, Polygon, and StarkWare.
The protocol’s TVL reached an all-time high of $2.7 billion in December 2024, before falling to a low of $700 million in April amid broader market challenges in the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector.
Since then, the protocol has recorded a steady recovery, with its TVL climbing back up to $1 billion, making it the third-largest restaking protocol by TVL, according to DeFiLlama.
