The founders of Lido and Paradigm secretly support EigenLayer's competitors, and the DeFi front is emerging

The popularity of the new blockchain "heavy bet" protocol, led by EigenLayer, has prompted a response from the main figure behind Lido's liquid betting platform. Lido itself suddenly rose a few years ago to become the biggest project in decentralized finance. The deal, called Symbiotic, is backed by Lido's co-founders and venture capital firms. It allows users to make "heavy bets" with Lido's bet Ethereum (stETH) tokens and other popular assets, natively compatible with EigenLayer. Symbiotic would be a permission-free heavy bet protocol that provides a flexible mechanism for decentralized networks to coordinate node operators and providers of economic security.

Lido became DeFi's breakthrough project a few years ago, and it is now considered the largest decentralized financial protocol on Ethereum, with $27 billion in deposits. Recently, however, Lido is facing a decline in market share as users move assets to EigenLayer, an emerging service that allows users to place heavy bets on Ethereum's native ETH tokens to help secure other networks. EigenLayer has attracted about $16 billion in deposits. Similar to EigenLayer, Symbiotic will provide a way for decentralized applications called Active Authentication Services (AVSs), which will protect each other.

   Lido's co-founders, Konstantin Lomashuk and Vasiliy Shapovalov, are quietly backing the Symbiotic project. This dynamic could mark a showdown in the decentralized finance (DeFi) space that could redefine the landscape. Paradigm is also involved in backing Symbiotic, one of Lido's main investors. Symbiotic's internal document describes the project, which allows users to make "heavy bets" using Lido's Bet Ether (stETH) tokens and other popular assets that are natively compatible with EigenLayer.

The Symbiotic team previously built a betting service called Stakemind. Symbiotic will be a permission-free heavy bet protocol that provides a flexible mechanism for decentralized networks to coordinate node operators and providers of economic security. The documents are marked "preliminary" and "not to be distributed," but several teams working in the emerging heavy bet ecosystem, including Active Verification Service (AVSs) and EigenLayer-based Flow heavy bet service, are already discussing integration with the protocol.

Lido was once a breakthrough in the DeFi space, a project that developed a protocol that allowed users to bet on cryptocurrencies on Ethereum, where users could lock in assets but still trade the token "stETH." The project was so popular that it became the largest decentralized financial protocol on Ethereum, with $27 billion in deposits. Recently, however, Lido is facing a decline in market share as users move assets to EigenLayer, an emerging service that allows users to place heavy bets on Ethereum's native ETH tokens to help secure other networks. EigenLayer has attracted about $16 billion in deposits.

Symbiotic would provide a way for decentralized applications called Active Verification Services (AVSs) that would protect each other. Similar to EigenLayer, Symbiotic will be a permission-free heavy bet protocol that provides a flexible mechanism for decentralized networks to coordinate node operators and providers of economic security.