Restaking has become a revolutionary process in blockchain, where an asset that has been staked can be sold to participate in extra networks and earn compound returns. By introducing new sources of yield in 2025, the industry will have transformed DeFi: the total value locked (TVL) across restaking protocols will surpass $25 billion. The first Bitcoin (BTC) restaking chain is called BounceBit, and it was launched in May 2024, which uses its native token, BB, to interoperate between centralized finance (CeFi) and DeFi in a CeDeFi model. BounceBit has access to the liquidity of Bitcoin with a market value of $1.3 trillion and a fixed supply of 2.1 billion tokens (BB at a fixed price of $0.20) to get high-yield strategies, which are secured.
This paper provides a comparison between BounceBit and the most popular restaking protocols, namely EigenLayer (Ethers restaking giant), the modular restaking protocol Symbiotic, and yield-trading platform Pendle (a platform with restaking synergy). These competitors have been selected on the basis of their market dominance and different strategies and data have been sourced to CoinGecko, DeFiLlama and protocol dashboards as of October 6, 2025. We will examine their mechanics, token utilities, governance, and staking models to point out the areas of uniqueness and trade-offs of BounceBit.
General Information on Restaking Protocols.
Staked assets (e.g. ETH, BTC) or their liquid staking tokens (LSTs) can be restaked to stake assets on secondary networks (e.g. rollups or oracles), increasing yields as well as increasing blockchain interoperability. All the protocols below assume different approaches:
BounceBit: PoS chain (EVM-compatible): A BTC restaking chain with BTC restaking through its BB token and BBTC (wrapped BTC). It offers CeFi custody (c.e.g. CEFFU) with DeFi returns, potentially aiming at BTC holders to receive passive income.
EigenLayer: The most advanced restaking protocol on Ethereum, allowing ETH LSTs (e.g. stETH) to win Actively Validated Services (AVSs) such as bridges or data layers, where the governance and reward token is EIGEN.
Symbiotic: Permissionless restaking platform The support of multi-asset LSTs (ETH, stablecoins) over a flexible security across chains with a focus on flexibility without an inherent token (utilizes rebasing LSTs).
Pendle: A yield-trading protocol: this is a tokenized yield of assets: the yield is represented as Principal Tokens (PT) and Yield Tokens (YT) and speculative strategies use PENDLE as a governance token.
BounceBit: CeDeFi Powerhouse of bitcoin.
The PoS architecture of the BounceBit two token model entails the validators to stake both the BB and BBTC and involves a combination of the deep liquidity of Bitcoin and the governance and gas capabilities of BB. Users place BTC into CeFi custody (through partners such as CEFFU), claiming BBTC to be restaked on-chain on DeFi pools or shared security clients (e.g. L2s, oracles). Liquid staking tokens are available as stBB/stBBTC, where the liquidity is guaranteed, and the yield of aBB goes up to 55% APY, whereas BTC yields up to 4-10%. It is compatible with EVM, and it is home to dApps such as BounceClub (an AI-based AMM hub) and integrative deals with Franklin Templeton aimed at reaching $1B+ TVL by the year 2026. CeFi custody threatening centralization is alleviated through the BVI licensing and open audits.
EigenLayer: Ethereum Restaking Ecosystem.
EigenLayer will allow ETH stakers to restake LSTs (e.g., stETH, rETH) to obtain AVSs and receive extra rewards (5-15% on top of 3-4% ETH staking). It supports hundreds of AVSs, rollups to data availability layers, which is the largest restaking hub and has a TVL of $15B. Protocol upgrades are controlled by EIGEN, and the points are distributed, yet small users can be discouraged by the high Ethereum gas costs and slashing (in case of default on the AVS tasks). It does not have the BTC exposure that BounceBit has and therefore relies on the volatility of ETH.
Modular and Permissionless: Symbiotic.
Symbiotic provides an open-ended restaking system, which enables any ERC-20 token (ETH, stables, LSTs) to claim custom networks through vault-based staking. Slashing is determined by operators, and rebasing LSTs are earned by the stakers (no native token). It has a 2.5b TVL, which makes it suitable when working on cross-chain projects requiring custom security, although its complexity and non-unified token make it less clear in terms of governance compared to either BB or EIGEN. It is similar to the simplicity of BounceBit as it is supported by wider assets, but lacks the stability of BTC.
Pendle: Yield Trading Restakes Restaking.
Pendle does not literally restake, but improvements protocols restaking protocols by tokenizing yields of LSTs (e.g. EigenLayers stETH) into PT (fixed yield) and YT (variable yield) tokens. These are traded at up to 30 percent APY and have a TVL of $6B indicating good adoption. PENDLE controls parameters of pools and the distribution of fees, yet its speculative character provides impermanent risks of losses. In comparison to the BTC-centered focus of a BounceBit, Pendle does not compete with restaking chains directly but complements them because of its success in the DeFi ecosystem of ETH.
BB: Powers BounceBit is an ecosystem, which enables transactions, proposal of a DAO (e.g., burns, integrations), and 18-55% APY staking. The supply of its fixed and CeDeFi interest is consistent with the scarcity story of BTC, and its demand keeps increasing as the TVL increases (166+ tokens supported). Wrapped WBB offers utility to Ethereum.
EIGEN: Manages the AVS ecosystem of EigenLayer, allocates points and receives fees. Its model of inflation promotes the incentives of validators but weaken the long term value as opposed to the cap of BB. Deep liquidity is guaranteed by a high TVL.
Symbiotic: Lacks is a native token, which earns rewards depending on rebasing LSTs (e.g., wstETH). This will decrease the speculative value, but operators have increased flexibility, unlike the unified token model of BB.
PENDLE: Allows control of yield pools and earns trading fees. vePENDLE locking increases voting power and incentive, but specifying on yields as opposed to the simplicity of staking in BB.
Governance Models
BounceBit: BB holders vote through a on-chain DAO, which affects validator caps (~25 per epoch), burn procedures and integrations (e.g. RWA liquidity). Staked BB and BBTC increase the level of weight, which is an incentive to long-term alignment. New votes modulated staking APY to 18%+.
EigenLayer: AVS onboarding and slashing regulations are controlled by EIGEN holders. The maturity of the DAO facilitates advanced upgrades, whereas the cost of entry (ETH-based) is a limitation to participation relative to the easily accessible staking offered by BB.
Symbiotic: The governance is decentralized with each vault operator establishing the staking terms. Lacking a native token, coordination is based on proposals of the community which is not as streamlined as the DAO of BB.
Pendle: pool parameters and fee splits are voted by vePENDLE holders. It has a liquid-oriented governance, which supplements restaking without the network-security focus of BB.
