Is there an INK token?

It has been announced but had not launched as of September 2026. The Ink Foundation announced INK on June 18, 2025 with a fixed supply of one billion, as a liquidity and incentive token rather than chain governance. No launch date had been committed.

Kraken built Ink and runs its sequencer. The chain settles to Ethereum and uses permissionless fraud proofs, which is why L2BEAT rates it Stage 1.

Is Ink part of the Superchain?

Yes. Ink is built on the OP Stack and is a member of Optimism's Superchain.

What do people use Ink for?

Mostly Kraken-linked DeFi: Tydro for lending (a white-label Aave v3 deployment), the Nado perpetual futures exchange, and xStocks tokenized equities that can be used as margin.

Ink: Ethereum Layer 2 Explained, How It Works, Use Cases

What Ink is

Ink is an Ethereum Layer 2 built by the exchange Kraken. It was announced on October 24, 2024 and reached mainnet in December 2024, ahead of its original early-2025 target. Ink runs on the OP Stack and is a member of Optimism's Superchain, the family of chains that share that codebase.

Kraken positions Ink as an on-chain DeFi hub connected to the exchange. Its deposits grew from around $7 million in October 2025 to roughly $450 to $500 million in 2026, and L2BEAT put its total value secured at about $426 million in September 2026.

The Ink Foundation announced an INK token on June 18, 2025, with a fixed supply of one billion, described as a liquidity and incentive token rather than one that governs the chain. As of September 2026 it had not launched: tracking sites showed a preview listing with zero circulating supply, and no launch date had been committed. Gas on Ink is paid in ETH.

How it works

Ink is an optimistic rollup. A sequencer run by Kraken orders transactions, batches are posted to Ethereum, and anyone can challenge an invalid state with a permissionless fraud proof. That fraud-proof system is why L2BEAT rates Ink Stage 1. Upgrades are controlled by a 10-of-13 Security Council multisig and can happen without an exit window, and the sequencer is centralized, as on most L2s today.

Use cases

Ink's main applications are Kraken-linked DeFi: Tydro, a white-label deployment of Aave v3 for lending; Nado, a perpetual futures exchange; and xStocks, tokenized equities that can be used as margin. For Kraken customers the chain is a short hop from the exchange for moving funds on-chain. TerminalFeed indexes Ink on-chain for its NFT Volume panel.

Tradeoffs and criticism

Much of Ink's growth has been driven by incentives and points farming ahead of the expected INK token, and reporting in 2026 noted daily active users falling by more than half from their peak even as deposits rose. It is the smallest of the three exchange-built L2s covered here, with a Kraken-run sequencer and upgrades that can land without an exit window. The token's launch date and final distribution were still unconfirmed as of September 2026.

Where to track Ink

See Optimism for the OP Stack and Superchain, optimistic rollup for the mechanics, and L2BEAT for its current risk profile.