Kraken’s Layer 2 Ink Has Accumulated 1M Transactions Since Launch

Kraken, a top 20 crypto exchange by trading volume, launched an Ethereum-based Layer 2 one week ago. The Ink mainnet has racked up almost 1 million transactions in about as many blocks, according to Ink Explorer.

Built on Ethereum using Optimism’s OP Stack, Ink was announced on Oct. 24, and a testnet went live in November.

But its formal debut was not expected until early 2025. Kraken has said nothing about it going live, and a Dec. 16 X post only said “Coming soon.”

Kraken did not respond to a request for comment by press time.

Layer 2’s are built on top of other blockchains, allowing them to scale up speed while retaining the security of the Layer 1 chains they’re based on, like Ethereum and Solana.

Access to DeFi

In its announcement, Kraken said its goal is to “enable access to DeFi from a trusted OG.”

By creating a “seamless bridge to DeFi,” Kraken said it is “empowering users to move onchain with confidence and ease… giving users a complete solution, enabling them to move between crypto’s centralized and decentralized worlds.”

Built on Ethereum for security, Ink’s use of Optimism’s OP Stack allows it to interoperate with a network of Layer 2 blockchains. The Optimism Superchain is one of the most widely used L2 networks, with $30 Billion in total value locked (TVL), compared to $21.9 billion for Arbitrum, the second-most widely used, according to L2Beat.

It’s not the exchange launching its own Layer 2. Top decentralized exchange Uniswap’s upcoming Unichain Layer 2 launched a testnet in October.

Layer 2s have $62.84 billion in total value locked, up more than 28% in the last 30 days.