Kraken, the major US cryptocurrency exchange, is considering some of the leading companies in blockchain technology to help launch its own layer 2 network, people familiar with the matter told CoinDesk.
Such a move would bring Kraken in line with rival Coinbase’s move earlier this year to launch its own Layer-2 network.
Kraken is considering Polygon, Matter Labs and Nil Foundation, among others, to use their technology as the basis for the new network, said the sources, who asked not to be named because the effort has not been made public and conversations are still fluid . Other teams may also be involved in the discussions.
“We are always looking to identify and solve new challenges and opportunities in the industry,” a Kraken spokesperson told CoinDesk. “We have nothing further to share at this time.”
Major crypto companies with established brands and customer followings have sought to increase their presence as blockchain builders, either as a potential source of new revenue or simply as an expansion of their current operations.
In August, crypto exchange Coinbase released its own layer 2 network, Base, which uses the OP Stack, from the OP Labs team that built Optimism, the second largest layer 2 network on top of the Ethereum blockchain.
Polygon, a leading developer of Ethereum scaling solutions with its Polygon PoS network and more recently the Polygon zkEVM, released a new software toolkit earlier this year that developers can use to set up their own blockchains. Matter Labs, the developer behind the zkSync layer-2 network, also offers its technology to novice builders.
Kraken recently posted a job opening on the careers section of its website, advertising for a ‘Senior Cryptography Engineer’ with ‘knowledge of modern cryptography (including ZK proofs)’ whose capabilities could include ‘design and implementation of layer -2-solutions’.
“We are excited about open source, layer 2 technologies, zero-knowledge proofs, multi-party computation, and continually strive to explore the potential of on-chain scaling solutions,” the job description reads. “The team recently started exploring how to integrate more protocols and decentralized applications into Kraken.”
With reporting by Elizabeth Napolitano.