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Kraken Introduces New Ethereum L2 Built on Optimism’s Superchain

Binance has the BNB chain, Coinbase has Base, OKX has the X layer and now Kraken has Ink.

Kraken today announced its plans to launch its own Ethereum Layer 2 network Ink, which is expected to go live on mainnet in early 2025.

Ink uses Optimism's OP Stack and will be part of Optimism's blockchain constellation, referred to as Superchain.

According to L2Beat, the OP Stack is the most widely used rollup stack today, with around 43 live chains. Other upcoming Layer 2 chains include Sony’s Soneium and Uniswap’s Unichain.

Read more: Optimism plans to unify its superchain with an interoperability layer

According to a press release shared with Blockworks, Kraken is choosing the Optimism superchain and will therefore share a percentage of its sequencer revenue with Optimism.

For example, Coinbase’s Base Layer 2 shares 2.5% to 15% of its sequencer revenue with Optimism Treasury. Optimism has earned approximately 2566 ETH in sequencer revenue with Base since its launch in October 2023.

Andrew Koller, founder of Ink, said of the launch: “A [layer-2] is only as good as the value it brings to users, and that value is created by a thriving ecosystem of developers.”

Read more: Kraken joins Coinbase to compete with BitGo's wBTC

The Ink blockchain is touted by Kraken as a DeFi-centric chain and will enjoy one-second block times on day one of its launch, with improvements to sub-second block times to follow in the future.

Ink's testnet is scheduled to go live in 17 days. The testnet launch will be accompanied by AMAs, live demos and competitions for targeted developers.

Founded in 2011 by Jesse Powell, Kraken is now one of the oldest crypto exchanges with approximately 10 million users in over 180 countries. Based on Coinmarketcap's rankings, Kraken is the sixth largest crypto exchange today.

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