Kraken’s Ink Chain Ramps Up Usage as Token Launch Approaches
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Ink, the Layer-2 network incubated by Kraken and built on Optimism’s Superchain framework, is suddenly buzzing with on-chain activity.
Daily transactions have jumped beyond 500,000 and the number of active smart contracts has roughly doubled since May, hitting six-thousand on 18 June, according to Dune Analytics.
The spike follows last week’s announcement of INK, a one-billion-token supply slated for release via an Aave-based liquidity-pool airdrop. Despite the surge in users, Ink’s total value locked is still modest—under $8 million—leaving plenty of headroom for new capital once incentives kick in.
Ink’s mainnet quietly went live in December 2024, several months ahead of schedule. Because the chain is fully EVM-compatible, Ethereum developers can port existing dApps at lower fees and faster speeds, putting it in the same Superchain club as Base, Sony’s forthcoming roll-up, and Uniswap’s L2 project.
The foundation behind Ink says the token won’t govern chain upgrades; instead, it will be used to deepen liquidity and reward application usage. That strategy could help the Kraken-affiliated network compete with Coinbase’s Base for retail and developer mindshare in the coming months.
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