TL;DR:
- Ink, the Ethereum layer-2 network incubated by Kraken, signed a multi-year agreement to migrate to Optimism’s OP Enterprise Fully Managed.
- Under the agreement, Optimism will operate the network’s production infrastructure while the Ink Foundation focuses on ecosystem growth.
- Applications built on the network generate nearly $40 million in annual revenue since its launch in December 2024.
Ink, the Ethereum layer-2 network incubated by Kraken and built on the OP Stack, announced a multi-year agreement to migrate to OP Enterprise Fully Managed, the managed infrastructure service offered by Optimism. The agreement represents one of the first cases in which a major Layer 2 delegates the operation of its production infrastructure to an external provider.
Under the terms of the deal, Optimism will take over the network’s production infrastructure, while the Ink Foundation redirects its resources toward ecosystem growth and the development of new financial products.
Jing Wang, CEO of Optimism, explained the reasoning behind the division of responsibilities: “Programmable financial infrastructure is becoming the foundation on which institutions build onchain, but operating that infrastructure requires a different set of expertise. By working together, the foundation can focus on growing the ecosystem while Optimism concentrates on operating and improving the network.”
Ink: An Institutional Testing Ground
In addition to the operational migration, Ink will join as a design partner of OP Enterprise, Optimism’s infrastructure offering aimed at institutions and exchanges building onchain financial products. The roadmap includes programmable block building, one-day withdrawals to Ethereum, and sequencer-level compliance tools.
Zach Le, Head of Strategy at the Ink Foundation, described managing a blockchain in production as a “unique operational challenge” and noted that they chose Optimism precisely because they are the ones who built the stack on which the network runs.
This new agreement follows the launch of Bitpanda’s Vision Chain, the first network deployed under OP Enterprise Fully Managed. Optimism indicated that Ink’s inclusion extends the managed tier to blockchain networks tied to exchanges in the United States and Europe.
It is worth noting, however, that active addresses across the leading optimistic rollups fell from nearly 3 million a year ago to fewer than 600,000 in recent weeks.
