Universal Staking: Guarantees, in collaboration with Cap Labs
Cap and Symbiotic offer a novel approach to managing risk and yield in DeFi by replacing traditional insurance with guarantees. Operators can’t access capital unless stakers voluntarily back them with collateral. If the operator fails, the staker loses funds — users remain protected. This creates a clear separation of roles: users consume yield, operators execute, stakers manage risk.
Key Highlights:
Isolated Risk: Each operator’s risk is siloed — failure doesn’t affect the whole system, similar to bond defaults.
Automatic Enforcement: Slashing is on-chain, rule-based, and instant — no DAO votes or subjective decisions.
Market-Driven Pricing: Risk premiums are negotiated directly between operators and stakers.
Universal Staking: The same collateral can secure networks and serve as guarantees across DeFi use cases.
Digital Surety Bonds: Cap mirrors the structure of surety bonds — but replaces legal contracts with smart contracts.
Cap isn’t just a better insurance model — it’s a new trust architecture for DeFi. If it holds up in practice, it could pave the way for DeFi 2.0, where risk is transparent, priced, and properly distributed.