Kraken has introduced that it’s going to exchange LayerZero, a protocol for transferring crypto property between blockchains, with an equal protocol from Chainlink after the $292 million bridge exploit that hit liquid restaking protocol Kelp final month uncovered the dangers of conventional cross-chain infrastructure.
Chainlink’s Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP) will develop into the unique cross-chain service for Kraken’s wrapped crypto property, together with Kraken’s wrapped Bitcoin, kBTC, the cryptocurrency alternate stated in a press release.
This migration follows comparable migrations by platforms corresponding to Kelp, Solv, and Re. Kelp misplaced 116,500 rsETH (Re-Staked Ether) from a LayerZero-powered bridge in April’s largest exploit of 2026. LayerZero later stated it “made a mistake” to permit its verification community to guard high-value property within the configuration during which it was used. In complete, an estimated complete of $3 billion that was locked up has since been transferred.
Kraken’s migration covers quite a lot of blockchains, together with Ink, Ethereum, Unichain, and Optimism, with different blockchains set to observe. Kraken launched kBTC in 2024 as the primary 1:1 Bitcoin-backed token accessible on Ethereum and OP mainnet. Based on information from CoinGecko, the token’s market cap at present stands at $260 million.
CCIP handles the motion of Kraken’s wrapped property based mostly on cross-chain token requirements. Based on the businesses, Kraken will proceed to situation and retailer property.
Rival cryptocurrency alternate Coinbase (COIN) additionally chosen Chainlink CCIP final yr as the only real bridge for round $7 billion in wrapped tokens.
Kraken’s father or mother firm, Payword, utilized for a federal belief constitution this month with the intention of changing into a federal cryptocurrency financial institution.
Learn extra: Kraken father or mother firm Payward seeks new funding at $20 billion valuation forward of deliberate IPO
