Kraken said it will replace LayerZero, a protocol for moving crypto assets across blockchains, with the equivalent of Chainlink after the $292 million bridge exploit that hit liquid resttaking protocol Kelp last month exposed risks in the legacy cross-chain infrastructure.
Chainlink’s Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP) will become the exclusive cross-chain service for Kraken’s wrapped crypto assets, including kBTC, the wrapped bitcoin, the crypto exchange said in a statement.
The move follows similar migrations by platforms such as Kelp, Solv and Re. Kelp lost 116,500 rsETH (recycled ether) from a LayerZero-powered bridge in the largest exploit of 2026 in April. LayerZero later said it had “made a mistake” by allowing its own authentication network to secure valuable assets in the configuration it used. In total, an estimated $3 billion in total value has migrated since then.
Kraken’s migration includes several blockchains, including Ink, Ethereum, Unichain and Optimism, with others to follow. Kraken introduced kBTC in 2024 as a 1:1 bitcoin-backed token first available on Ethereum and OP Mainnet. The token now has a market cap of $260 million, CoinGecko data shows.
CCIP will handle the movement of Kraken’s wrapped assets under the Cross-Chain Token standard. Kraken will continue to issue and hold the assets, the companies said.
Rival crypto exchange Coinbase (COIN) also selected Chainlink CCIP last year as the sole bridge for about $7 billion worth of wrapped tokens.
Kraken’s parent company, Payward, filed for a federal trust charter this month in an effort to become a federal crypto bank.
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