Optimism Foundation Grants 25 Million OP Tokens to Kraken for Strategic Blockchain Partnership

The Optimism Foundation has made a significant move by granting 25 million OP tokens to Kraken, a major U.S. cryptocurrency exchange, as part of a strategic collaboration.

Initially valued at approximately $100 million, the deal’s current worth has diminished to around $42.5 million due to changes in token prices. As part of this agreement, Kraken is set to develop its own layer-2 blockchain, named Ink, utilizing the OP Stack framework from Optimism.

Ink will become part of a growing “Superchain” ecosystem, which includes layer-2 networks from other prominent firms like Coinbase, Sony, and Uniswap. This Superchain leverages the OP Stack to facilitate the creation of scalable rollups based on Optimism’s technology.

Kraken announced that the distribution of tokens will occur over time, with Ink’s founder Andrew Koller stating that the number of tokens allocated aligns with grants provided to other Superchain projects. The partnership was reportedly finalized earlier this year when the OP token was valued between $3.99 and $4.06, but it has since fallen to around $1.70.

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