Symbiotic officially pivots to collateral markets with Core V2 launch

Paradigm-backed collateral markets platform Symbiotic is continuing to expand beyond its restaking roots with the launch of Symbiotic Core V2 on Wednesday. 

"Symbiotic started out and was previously known as a restaking protocol, but Symbiotic Core V2 marks its transition into collateral markets, and it's the upgrade that makes that shift official," a representative told The Block. “Going forward, the protocol is focused on building infrastructure and products for collateral markets."

In other words, instead of every DeFi app, from insurance pools and credit protocols to RWA vaults and otherwise, needing its own isolated pile of locked-up capital, each can now share in a common collateral base.

Symbiotic V2

One of V2’s key unlocks is enabling capital to remain productive when not being used to secure other financial products. 

According to the announcement, capital committed to Symbiotic vaults can be dynamically routed into blue-chip lending protocols like Aave and Morpho when not actively needed to generate base yields. When obligations arise, the framework automatically recalls funds for enforcement.

Symbiotic noted that each vault’s risk and terms are "defined separately," meaning they maintain independent risk parameters, allocation limits, accepted collateral types, and loss conditions, all executed onchain. Pooling collateral like this reportedly leads to 70% more capital efficiency than standalone liquidity pools.

The first product built on Core V2, Liquid Lane, introduced last month, creates a shared capital layer for instant RWA settlement, allowing one vault to service redemptions across multiple tokenized assets through a competitive market while the underlying capital continues earning returns. Investors can exchange tokenized funds, private credit products and other RWA assets for stablecoins nearly instantly, rather than waiting for the full redemption window, sometimes stretching for months.

Midas was reportedly the first issuer on Liquid Lane, with Fasanara Capital, the $6 billion institutional asset manager behind the tokenized credit fund mGLOBAL, serving as its initial curator. Onchain asset manager KPK also joined Liquid Lane last month as a vault curator.

Nexus Mutual plans to leverage the platform for expanded DeFi insurance capacity, while Cap is using it to scale institutional credit guarantees.

"Shared collateral is especially important for onchain cover, where demand for protection is outgrowing what any single balance sheet should carry alone," Nexus Mutual founder Hugh Karp told The Block. "Symbiotic enables delegated capital to sit behind Nexus Mutual as reinsurance capacity, with first-loss and second-loss exposure defined separately. This allows Nexus Mutual to provide the deeper, enforceable cover DeFi needs to support larger markets.”

Symbiotic raised raised $29 million in a Series A funding round in April 2025 led by Pantera. In addition to support from Coinbase Ventures and other, over 100 angel investors joined the round, including individuals from Aave, Polygon and StarkWare.

It also raised a $5.8 million seed round co-led by Paradigm and cyber.Fund.