LayerZero Labs unveiled its Zero blockchain on Tuesday with backing from Citadel Securities and ARK Invest. The new layer-1 network secured strategic investments from both firms in its ZRO governance token, while ARK Invest also took equity in LayerZero Labs.
ARK Invest CEO Cathie Wood will join Zero's advisory board alongside Michael Blaugrund, vice president of strategic initiatives at Intercontinental Exchange, and Caroline Butler, former head of digital assets at BNY Mellon. The advisory board formation signals traditional finance's deepening interest in distributed ledger technology for trading and settlement.
Zero uses a heterogeneous architecture that separates transaction execution from verification through zero-knowledge proofs, bypassing what LayerZero calls the "fundamental replication requirement" that limits existing networks. The company claims this design enables scalability to 2 million transactions per second with costs approaching a millionth of a dollar per transaction, targeting institutional financial markets.
"We believe we can actually bring the entire global economy on-chain with this technology."
LayerZero CEO Bryan Pellegrino stated Zero's "architecture moves the industry's roadmap forward by at least a decade."
The network will launch in fall 2026 with three initial permissionless environments: a general-purpose EVM zone, a privacy-focused payments system, and a purpose-built trading venue. ZRO will provide interoperability between these zones and connect to more than 165 existing chains through LayerZero's existing cross-chain messaging protocol.
Major financial institutions are exploring Zero for specific use cases. The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation will evaluate the technology for tokenization and collateral applications, while Intercontinental Exchange examines 24/7 trading infrastructure.
Google Cloud is partnering with LayerZero to explore distributed ledger-based micropayments and resource trading for AI agents.
Tether's investment arm also made a separate strategic investment in LayerZero Labs, announced earlier on Tuesday. The stablecoin issuer's backing adds to growing support for the interoperability-focused infrastructure from traditional finance players.
LayerZero's native token ZRO surged nearly 22% in 24 hours following the announcement, reaching a four-month high of $2.42 on Binance despite broader crypto market declines. Trading volume jumped over 410% to approximately $491 million, placing ZRO among CoinGecko's top-performing altcoins.
The project represents a significant push by traditional market infrastructure players into distributed ledger-based trading, clearing and settlement. Asset managers, exchanges and clearing houses increasingly view this technology as potential upgrades to legacy systems rather than speculative rails.
Zero's launch comes amid growing experimentation with tokenization, highlighted by BlackRock's $1.7 billion tokenized money market fund BUIDL. The LayerZero initiative aims to extend distributed ledger infrastructure to a broader range of economic activities beyond cryptocurrency trading.
