Asymmetry, ‘ETF’ for Liquid Staking Tokens, Raises $3M Round From Ecco Capital, Ankr and Others

Asymmetry Finance, a protocol for liquid staking derivatives, raised $3 million from Ecco Capital, Republic Capital, GMJP and Ankr, as part of its growth plan, the firm said on Tuesday.

The company will “use the resources to further develop its liquid staking protocol, add top talent to the team and onboard decentralized finance (DeFi) enthusiasts to its platform,” according to a press release. The project is led by co-founders Justin Garland and Hannah Hamilton.

The market for liquid staking derivatives is dominated by Lido, which has about $12.4 billion of “total value” or collateral locked in, according to DeFiLlama. Asymmetry’s website estimates Lido’s share of the staked ether market at 88%.

Asymmetry’s main product is the safETH token, which represents a basket of liquid staking derivative tokens including Lido’s wstETH, Rocketpool’s rETH, Frax’s frxETH, Stakewise's sETH2 and Ankr's ankrETH, according to the website.

Garland likened the token to an exchange-traded fund or ETF for liquid staking tokens.

The weighting is currently split evenly, but according to the project’s white paper the mix could eventually be determined by members of an “Asymmetry DAO” who hold the project’s ASF tokens.