Crypto exchange Kraken is looking to launch its own L2 blockchain, Ink, early next year.
Background
- Following the same path as Coinbase’s L2 Base, Kraken has also tapped on Optimism’s OP stack to build its chain atop the Ethereum network
- Ink’s testnet will go live later this year
- Meanwhile, the blockchain is expected to become open to retail and institutional users in Q1 2025
- Around 40 people from Kraken are working on Ink at the moment
Why should you pay attention?
- According to the Ink team, over a dozen apps — including DEXes and aggregators — will be available on Ink when it makes its debut
- Going forward, the chain could also become home to RWAs and advanced lending apps
- Kraken will be the chain’s sequencer initially
- This means it will make money by organizing and managing transactions on the network
- To contextualize — Coinbase amassed $53 million in sequencer revenue according to its letter to shareholders
- However, Kraken plans to decentralize this function and share it with multiple parties eventually
Who said what?
- Chalking out what to expect from the user-experience front, Ink Founder Andrew Koller said,
“It’s a very easy-to-use, Apple-esque experience. Over time, our users will have these two centralized and decentralized ecosystems playing with each other. We want you to feel that you are doing something familiar”
- He further went on to highlight that an L2 is only as good as the value it brings to users, and that value is created by a thriving ecosystem of developers
- He added,
“As part of the Superchain, Ink is laying the groundwork for an interoperable and pluralistic on-chain ecosystem that will attract developers and make Ink the ideal platform for the next generation of DeFi applications and protocols”
In other related news
- Earlier this month, Kraken launched its tokenized version of Bitcoin, kBTC
- Right off the bat, a host of blue-chip DeFi apps supported kBTC
- Its partners included: Ethereum, Optimism, Paraswap, Yearn, Gauntlet, deBridge, Definitive, CowSwap, Beefy, Velodrome, Curve, and Morpho
