Kraken named Chainlink (LINK) CCIP the unique cross-chain layer for kBTC and future wrapped belongings, retiring LayerZero after a $292M exploit.
Kraken Drops LayerZero For Chainlink CCIP
Kraken will route kBTC and each future wrapped asset by Chainlink’s Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol, the alternate confirmed this week.
The swap covers Ethereum (ETH), Ink, Unichain, and Optimism (OP) in its first section, with further chains queued for later phases.
The alternate cited ISO 27001 and SOC 2 Kind 2 certifications, 16 unbiased node operators, and native fee limits as the explanations it picked CCIP over the prior LayerZero setup.
kBTC, backed one-to-one by Bitcoin (BTC) held in Kraken custody, carries a market capitalization close to $266 million. Holders don’t must take any motion through the migration, the alternate mentioned.
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Kelp DAO Exploit Reshapes Bridge Danger
The choice lands roughly one month after the April 18 Kelp DAO breach drained 116,500 rsETH from a LayerZero-powered bridge, a success later attributed to North Korea’s Lazarus Group.
LayerZero acknowledged it “made a mistake” within the configuration that secured these belongings, and the admission has accelerated a wave of exits throughout DeFi. Kelp DAO, Solv Protocol, and on-chain reinsurance protocol Re have all introduced parallel strikes to Chainlink, with Solv shifting roughly $700 million in Bitcoin-related belongings alone.
Johann Eid, Chief Enterprise Officer at Chainlink Labs, mentioned Kraken’s migration “displays rising institutional demand for cross-chain methods able to assembly enterprise-level safety necessities.”
Chainlink Builds Wrapped-Asset Community Impact
Chainlink oracles already safe roughly 70% of the DeFi oracle market and greater than 80% on Ethereum, with CCIP built-in throughout Aave and Lido. Coinbase picked the identical protocol because the unique bridge for about $7 billion in wrapped belongings in 2025, and Kraken’s transfer extends that sample into crypto-native alternate infrastructure.
LINK price action has lagged the broader rally for a lot of Might, buying and selling nicely under its 2024 highs at the same time as institutional wins have stacked up. The token has held a slender vary by the spring, with analysts noting that infrastructure wins usually present up in charges and integrations lengthy earlier than worth catches up.
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