Kraken, the 6th-largest crypto exchange in the world, announced on Thursday its intention to launch a unique layer-2 network built on the Ethereum blockchain, utilizing technology from Optimism, the same company providing the infrastructure for Coinbase's layer-2 network known as Base.

This announcement follows nearly a year after CoinDesk reported that Kraken had been exploring the establishment of a layer-2 network, spurred by the success of Coinbase's Base, which launched in mid-2023.

Kraken’s new network, dubbed Ink, leverages the OP stack, a customizable toolkit for developers to create tailored blockchains using Optimism’s advanced technology. The launch of Ink is projected for early 2025.

Optimism has rapidly gained traction among various firms, including non-crypto entities like Sony, and Uniswap, announcing their own layer-2 networks based on the OP Stack. In the competitive arena of layer-2 networks, Kraken's innovation could solidify the OP Stack's position as a leading technology provider in Ethereum scaling solutions.

As Andrew Koller, the founder of Ink stated, "An L2 is only as good as the value it brings to users, and that value is created by a thriving ecosystem of developers..."