Symbiotic Points Season 2
Starting with the deployment of feature-complete Symbiotic core contracts on Ethereum mainnet, the Symbiotic Points Program is entering Season 2 that seeks to reward all participants in the shared security marketplace: namely Restakers (represented by Vaults), Networks, and Operators (see here for an introduction of Symbiotic protocol participants).
The following article describes the high-level goals and logic of the Symbiotic Points Program Season 2 and its implications.
Symbiotic Points earned throughout Seasons 1 and 2 can be viewed by connecting the participant’s wallet address on the official Symbiotic front-end: https://app.symbiotic.fi.
Points accumulated by depositors participating through wrappers (e.g. LRTs) might not be visible on the Symbiotic front-end and need to be accessed through the respective provider.
Participation in the Points Program is subject to Symbiotic's Terms of Use, Points Program Terms, and Risk Factor Disclosure Statement.
Goals and Logic of Points Season 2
Points Season 2 is designed to be transitory between the Pre-Deposit (“idle”) collateral stage and the final stage of the Symbiotic protocol where every collateral token deposited is delegated to secure decentralized Networks. With this in mind, the goal for Season 2 is to create incentives for collateral to be delegated (”in use/staked”). For this purpose, the collateral delegated through Vaults will be incentivized with a multiplier of 2x to Pre-Deposit Vaults. Points are still going to be distributed to Pre-Deposit Vaults, as there is no expectation for the totality of current deposits to be immediately required for the first mainnet cohort of Networks.
Season 2 Points distribution is determined on a per Network basis taking into account characteristics of the underlying Symbiotic Network and stake (in USD terms) delegated to Operators on the Network through Vaults. For each Network, the maximum amount of Points per hour is at this stage set on a case-by-case basis in accordance with expected security requirements to be as flexible and accurate as possible. This limit then is apportioned on a pro-rata basis to Vaults and their constituents. In case Networks onboard stake above their set limit, Points are going to be apportioned to a larger base resulting in a lower Points rate per USD. This is done to protect against Point farming and as a sanity check to avoid dilution for stakers in other Networks.
The Points Program takes discretionary judgment to determine the per-Network rate of Point distribution and to provide a per-Network upper limit in terms of eligible stake in USD terms based on Network characteristics including - but not limited to - required economic security, Network rewards, Network utility, and capital efficiency. The Points Program utilizes widely used price oracles to continuously determine asset collateral value in USD-based denominations.
On Pre-Deposit Vaults
As part of the initial rollout of Symbiotic in June 2024, Pre-Deposit (”default collateral”) Vaults without delegation capabilities were deployed for various collateral assets including wstETH, mETH, wBTC, and other assets relevant for the Symbiotic ecosystem. These accumulated deposits to the tune of $2bn in TVL. The initial period from June 2024 to the mainnet core contract deployment January 2025 constitutes Symbiotic Points Season 1.
With the Symbiotic core contract mainnet deployment, Vaults can now be permissionless-ly deployed to delegate collateral to Operators on Symbiotic Networks. According to the logic above, actively delegated stake through these Vaults will receive boosted Points in Season 2. In addition, Actively Delegated Vaults can expect to receive rewards from the Networks they are providing collateral to.
Depositors of initially deployed Pre-Deposit Vaults will continue to receive Symbiotic Points at a lower rate, with Points phasing out in the medium- to long-term to facilitate a migration to Actively Delegated Vaults managed and curated by various entities in the Symbiotic ecosystem (e.g. LRTs, Operators, institutions, Network foundations, etc.).
Depositors that participate in Symbiotic through LRTs can expect their stake to be automatically migrated by their LRT provider, while direct depositors need to migrate their stake to Actively Delegate Vaults if desired. These flows are highlighted and guided on the official Symbiotic front-end.
Note that Points are only accumulated for actively delegated collateral meaning Points effectively earned by Vault depositors are subject to how much of its stake the underlying Vault has allocated to Networks. Because of this, Vaults without or with low proportional delegation allocation to Networks may earn fewer Points than Pre-Deposit Vaults. The Symbiotic front-end will display information to help depositors evaluate Vaults.
