Symbiosis is a cross-chain liquidity engine and decentralized exchange aggregator founded in 2021. It routes single-transaction swaps between incompatible ecosystems, including Bitcoin, Solana, Tron, TON, and dozens of EVM-compatible blockchains.
Founders and backing
The protocol was co-founded by Chief Technology Officer Aleksei Lushnikov. Symbiosis raised a $2 million seed round in October 2021, backed by investors including Dragonfly Capital, KuCoin Labs, the Avalanche Foundation, Blockchain.com Ventures, and Kenetic Capital. It subsequently held an initial coin offering in November 2021 and secured a strategic funding round in February 2022 from backers including YZi Labs.
How swaps and routing work
Symbiosis functions as a non-custodial liquidity network. When a user executes a cross-chain swap, the protocol's smart routing engine compares native liquidity pools alongside partner venues like 1inch, 0x, and LI.FI to identify the best output amount. Transactions execute without identity verification or centralized custody: users connect a self-custody wallet, select their input and output assets, and sign a single transaction. The native utility and governance token is SIS.
Supported networks and limits
The network covers more than 50 chains, spanning non-EVM ecosystems such as Bitcoin, Solana, Tron, and TON, alongside major EVM networks like Ethereum, Base, Arbitrum, BNB Chain, and Polygon. It also supports specialized rollups and execution layers, including Hyperliquid L1 and X Layer. On protocol-owned liquidity routes, Symbiosis allows transfers of up to $1,000,000 per transaction.
Track record and protocol risks
Since its 2021 deployment, Symbiosis has processed more than 5 million transactions and over $10 billion in total volume across roughly 855,000 unique wallet addresses. Protocol smart contracts have undergone third-party security audits published in the project's public repository. In September 2026, the protocol experienced a security incident involving an unbacked cross-chain mint exploit on its Bitcoin bridge, resulting in a loss of approximately $336,000. Typical risks include bridge smart contract vulnerabilities, cross-chain messaging delays, and potential liquidity imbalances in underlying pools during periods of extreme market volatility.