Optimism Foundation and Kraken have recently finalized a $25 million deal to introduce the exchange’s new layer-2 (L2) blockchain, Ink, into the Superchain ecosystem. This partnership, valued at $43 million based on OP’s current price of $1.72, marks a significant collaboration in the crypto space.
The grant provided by Optimism Foundation to Kraken is structured to support the exchange’s protocol engineering and incentivize the achievement of major transaction milestones. Out of the 25 million tokens allocated, five million OP tokens will be dedicated to engineering efforts specific to the OP Stack, while the remaining 20 million tokens will be used to reach transaction benchmarks that generate substantial fees for the OP Collective.
Ryan Wyatt, Optimism Foundation’s chief growth officer, highlighted that the goal is to drive fees to the Optimism Collective by rewarding Kraken for meeting “massive transaction milestones.” This approach aims to ensure a positive return on investment for both parties involved. Wyatt also mentioned that similar deals have been extended to other crypto firms leveraging Optimism’s infrastructure, such as Coinbase’s L2 blockchain Base.
The grant provided by Optimism Foundation goes beyond covering deployment costs, with a focus on supporting protocol engineering, interoperability, Superchain ERC-20 standards, and broader ecosystem goals. Kraken’s contributions will include deep integration efforts to enhance the OP Stack’s capabilities within the DeFi sector.
In a public document shared by Wyatt, nearly 480 million OP tokens have been allocated to the Partner fund, seed fund, and Unallocated categories. He also emphasized a commitment to increasing transparency surrounding token allocations and project developments.
Kraken’s Ethereum L2 network, Ink, was officially announced on Oct. 24, positioning itself as a general-use network similar to Base. The decision to utilize the Superchain infrastructure aligns with Ink’s vision of being an interoperable blockchain while leveraging Ethereum’s robust security as a layer-1 blockchain.
Base, Kraken’s existing layer-2 blockchain on Superchain, has seen significant success, surpassing $2 billion in total value locked (TVL) in late September and currently sitting at $2.7 billion as of Oct. 29. This achievement has positioned Base as the largest Ethereum L2 network by TVL, as reported by DefiLlama data.
Overall, the partnership between Optimism Foundation and Kraken signifies a strategic collaboration to advance blockchain technology and drive innovation within the crypto ecosystem. As both entities continue to explore new opportunities and enhance their respective offerings, the impact of this deal is expected to ripple across the industry.