- Kraken is looking to replicate Coinbase’s success with the Base blockchain by building its own Ethereum rollup.
- It joins Sony, Uniswap, and World in the Optimism “Superchain.”
Kraken, one of the largest crypto exchanges in the US, is building its own blockchain, the company said Thursday.
That blockchain, Ink, will be an Ethereum rollup — a blockchain built atop Ethereum that offers faster and cheaper transactions.
With Ink, Kraken becomes the latest exchange to offer its millions of customers a way to conduct their business “onchain.”
Most people who own and trade crypto rarely interact directly with blockchain-based applications. Instead, they let centralised exchanges store and swap crypto on their behalf.
That practice is an ironic twist for an industry built around technology meant to cut out middlemen such as banks and brokerage firms.
Though long viewed with suspicion by crypto diehards, centralised exchanges have attempted to demonstrate their commitment to crypto principals, taking a combative stance against US regulators, and helping customers access the decentralised world via their own self-custody wallets and blockchains.
With Ink, Kraken is following in the footsteps of Coinbase. That exchange became the first to develop its own Ethereum rollup when it launched Base in June 2023.
Base has been a runaway success. Along with other “payment related revenue,” the rollup has generated more than $100 million for Coinbase in the first half of this year, or about 3.5% of the exchange’s total revenue, according to the company’s latest quarterly report. This month, its DeFi ecosystem became the largest among Ethereum rollups, topping longtime leader Arbitrum.
Like Base, Ink will be built using code from Optimism, an early rollup developer that shares technology with others who, in turn, contribute to its ongoing development.
Optimism chains account for almost half of the transactions among Ethereum’s 100-plus rollups. Companies developing rollups using the Optimism code include Sony, Uniswap, and the Sam Altman-backed, eyeball-scanning World (formerly known as Worldcoin).
While the proliferation of rollups has fragmented liquidity on Ethereum, Optimism plans on introducing a new token standard in 2025 that will enable interoperability between blockchains using its code.
“Ink will support SuperchainERC20 at launch, enabling users to easily move across the Superchain ecosystem and preparing the ground for more seamless interactions between Ink and other OP Chains,” Kraken said in a statement.
Kraken claims more than 10 million users around the world. It plans to release an Ink test network later this year, and a final version on Ethereum in 2025.
Aleks Gilbert is a DeFi correspondent based in New York. You can contact him at aleks@dlnews.com.
