Karak

Karak is a restaking layer that accepts a broad range of assets across multiple chains to secure Distributed Secure Services (DSS). DeFiLlama has no live adapter as of 2026-06-25, so metrics are curated until resolved.

Broad multi-asset, multi-chain collateral support with its own DSS framework and the K2 testnet sandbox.

- Karak Restaking Protocol: A universal, asset- and chain-agnostic restaking layer. Users (stakers) deposit assets such as ETH, liquid staking tokens (LSTs), liquid restaking tokens (LRTs), and stablecoins into operator vaults to provide shared economic security. Karak introduces multi-asset restaking so a DSS can be secured by a basket of assets rather than a single one. - Distributed Secure Services (DSS): A DSS is a web service built on the Karak Restaking Protocol that leases pooled economic security from restaked assets. Any infrastructure platform, oracle network, cross-chain bridge, or data-availability layer can register as a DSS; operators allocate restaked vaults to a DSS, perform tasks for rewards, and can be slashed for misbehavior. - K2: A risk-management L2 built on top of Karak that leverages services provided by DSSs. K2 serves as the de facto sandbox for DSSs to develop, test, and launch mission-critical protocol upgrades before enshrining services on L1, avoiding prohibitively expensive L1 operations. - Operators and Vaults: Operators run infrastructure and choose which DSSs to allocate funds to; each asset accepted by an operator has a separate vault. Stakers deposit into these vaults and receive shares proportional to their deposit relative to total vault assets.

- Smart Contract: Karak's restaking, slashing, and withdrawal logic is complex; the July 2024 Code4rena audit found 4 High and 5 Medium severity issues, including a slashing bug that could permanently lock user ETH when all vault shares were burned during withdrawal. - Governance: The protocol's slashing mechanism allows a privileged owner/controller to penalize stakers by reducing staked assets, concentrating power that could be misused or misconfigured. - Systemic: Restaking rehypothecates the same capital across multiple DSSs (leverage is possible), so a correlated slashing event or cascade across DSSs could compound losses across the shared security pool. - Collateral: Karak accepts a broad basket of multi-asset collateral (ETH, LSTs, LRTs, stablecoins). Volatility, depeg, or failure of any accepted asset backing a DSS can reduce the effective economic security provided. - Counterparty: Stakers must delegate to operators who choose which DSSs to secure and can be slashed; a malfunctioning, malicious, or under-provisioned operator exposes delegated stakers to loss.

- Reinsurance / shared collateral pools: similar — Like reinsurance, Karak lets a common pool of capital (restaked assets) underwrite the security of many independent services (DSSs) simultaneously, spreading economic backing across participants.; differs — Karak's guarantees are enforced on-chain via slashing of staked crypto assets rather than legal contracts; capital is programmable, permissionless to supply, and multi-asset rather than fiat-denominated reserves.