Kraken Abandons LayerZero in Favor of Chainlink

Kraken, a prominent cryptocurrency exchange, has made the decision to transition its wrapped Bitcoin product from LayerZero's cross-chain interoperability protocol to Chainlink's CCIP. This change is part of an increasing number of major crypto firms distancing themselves from LayerZero after the recent Kelp DAO exploit.

The $292 million exploit was attributed to Lazarus Group, a North Korean state-sponsored hacker group. The attack involved 'poisoning' internal RPCs used by LayerZero Labs, allowing attackers to drain 116,500 rsETH liquid staking tokens from Kelp DAO's infrastructure.

Kraken has stated that its decision to migrate was based on the need for enterprise-grade infrastructure with strict security and risk management requirements. The exchange will continue to use Chainlink's technology for any future wrapped assets.