Kraken to Launch 'Ink' Protocol for DeFi Scaling

- Ink is a Layer 2 blockchain built on Optimism's OP Stack that launched on mainnet in December 2024, ahead of its original Q1 2025 schedule. It is designed to bridge Kraken's more than 10 million centralized exchange users into the decentralized finance ecosystem. - The protocol's revenue model is based on Kraken acting as the sequencer for transactions, a model that has proven profitable for competitors like Coinbase with its Base network. To support its development on the OP Stack, Kraken received a grant of 25 million OP tokens from the Optimism Foundation, valued at approximately $58 million. - Since its launch, Ink has accumulated over $400 million in Total Value Locked (TVL), with application revenue growing from $500,000 in October to $5.77 million by January 2026. Nado, a central-limit orderbook decentralized exchange developed in-house by Kraken, is a key protocol on Ink and reportedly reached $17 billion in perpetuals volume in January 2026. - The Ink Foundation is launching a native INK token with a fixed supply of 1 billion to incentivize network participation. The token will be distributed through an airdrop and is designed purely as a utility to reward liquidity providers, without any governance rights. - For institutional clients, the Ink ecosystem includes protocols like Rails, which focuses on providing CEX-grade execution and regulatory compliance while allowing traders to maintain self-custody of their funds. This complements Kraken's broader institutional push, which consolidated services for asset managers and hedge funds under the "Kraken Institutional" brand. - The ecosystem already includes integrations with established DeFi protocols such as a liquidity protocol powered by Aave, alongside DEXs like Uniswap, Curve, and Velodrome.