📣 Kraken Launches Ink, Its Own Blockchain
posted 24 Oct 2024
Kraken prepares to roll out its own Layer 2 blockchain, Ink, at the beginning of next year.
The digital ledger is projected to be the foundation for launching decentralized trading and lending dApps, yield farming protocols, options trading platforms, and more.
Logo of Kraken's Ink Blockchain. Source: Blog.Kraken
The new blockchain will serve as a Layer 2 on Ethereum, leveraging the OP Stack infrastructure. Ink will integrate into the Superchain and support all ERC20 tokens compatible with the Superchain ecosystem.
Superchain Ecosystem Source: Optimism
For developers, Ink’s integration provides a major benefit—access to Kraken’s entire user base. For users, it promises the advantages of blockchain abstraction and an effortless, smooth connection to parallel protocols and applications.
Welcome @inkonchain to the Superchain! @krakenfx is releasing @inkonchain, powered by the OP Stack. Ink will provide a seamless onchain DeFi experience for the crypto-native and crypto-curious, contributing to the adoption of Ethereumthe Optimism’s team announced on X.
Coinbase has already launched a comparable Layer 2 network, and Uniswap, the decentralized exchange, has announced its intention to launch an L2 blockchain built on the OP Stack.
A dedicated team of 40 specialists is currently working on the Ink blockchain.
Kraken Logo Source: Bloomberg
The Ink testnet is scheduled to go live by the end of 2024, with the blockchain becoming accessible to both retail and institutional users by late March 2025.
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Ink founder Andrew Koller notes that while DeFi apps have been around for a while, they remain too complex for the average user. Kraken is working to fix that.
Ink’s goal is to make dApps easier and more affordable for the average user. The functionality will be available through Kraken Wallet.
At least ten DeFi apps, including exchanges and aggregators, will be accessible from the moment Ink is officially launched.
Initially, Kraken will operate as the network’s sequencer, earning transaction fees from the new blockchain. According to Andrew Koller’s statement to Bloomberg, this role will eventually be decentralized.
Launching its own blockchain is the latest move in Kraken’s business expansion. In the summer of 2024, the exchange’s institutional division, which serves hedge funds, ETF issuers, and other large entities, began offering services to clients in the UK and Australia.
Kraken’s CTO Vishnu Patankar previously remarked that blockchain technology has yet to reach the critical level of popularity and influence necessary to trigger a sweeping transformation in the current tech framework. He believes that the macro environment—regulations and public sentiment—is slowing the development of emerging technologies.
Patankar also highlighted the growing risk of computational power being diverted from cryptocurrencies to AI.
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