American crypto exchange Kraken will launch its own blockchain, Ink, in the first quarter of 2025. Its founder Andrew Koller told Bloomberg about this in an interview.
Access will be made open to retail and institutional users.
The launch of the latter's test network is expected before the new year.
The issue of its own token is not expected.
The exchange expects its L2 to be in demand for trading, borrowing, and lending. Dapps will be available through the Kraken Wallet.
The team aims to make interacting with DeFi cheap and intuitive.
Ink is based on Optimism's OP Stack, which was used by Coinbase.
"It's a very simple, Apple-style app. Over time, users will have two centralized and decentralized ecosystems that interact with each other. It should feel like you're doing something familiar," Koller explained.
Initially, about a dozen dapps will operate in the network - DEX and aggregators. In the future, it may become a "home" for RWA and "advanced" lending applications, the top manager said.
Kraken plans to become a sequencer, making money by organizing and managing transactions. Over time, this function will be decentralized, Koller promised.
Rumors of Kraken's intention to launch L2 began back in November 2023, with Polygon, Matter Labs, and the Nil Foundation named as partners.
In October, the exchange announced the launch of the “wrapped” bitcoin kBTC.
Recall that Kraken's parent companies are still in litigation with the SEC. In November 2023, the regulator brought charges for not registering as a trading platform.
Prior to this, the organization settled the Commission's claims regarding the staking program.
