LayerZero Announces Zero Blockchain to Build Global Market Infrastructure In Collaboration with Citadel Securities, The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation, Intercontinental Exchange; With Strategic Investment in ZRO from Citadel Securities

Core Insights - LayerZero Labs has announced the launch of Zero, a new blockchain aimed at addressing scalability challenges in decentralized networks, with collaborations from major financial and technology firms including Citadel Securities, DTCC, Google Cloud, and Intercontinental Exchange [1][2] - Zero's architecture is designed to support up to 2 million transactions per second (TPS) with transaction costs as low as $0.000001, significantly outperforming existing blockchains like Ethereum and Solana [1] - The blockchain will be permissionless, allowing users to validate, build, and transact, with an expected launch in fall 2026 [2] Technical Breakthroughs - Zero incorporates four significant advancements in storage, compute, networking, and zero-knowledge proofs, enabling a performance increase of approximately 100,000 times faster than Ethereum and 500 times faster than Solana [1] - The introduction of a heterogeneous architecture allows for decoupling transaction execution from verification, eliminating the need for every node to replicate the same work [1] Industry Collaborations - Citadel Securities is providing market structure expertise and has made a strategic investment in ZRO, the native token of the Zero network [1] - DTCC aims to leverage Zero's technology to enhance the scalability of its DTC Tokenization Service and Collateral App Chain, focusing on the adoption of digital assets [1] - Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) is exploring applications of Zero to support 24/7 markets and the integration of tokenized collateral [1] Advisory Board - LayerZero has formed an advisory board that includes prominent figures such as Cathie Wood from ARK Invest, Michael Blaugrund from ICE, and Caroline Butler, former head of digital assets at BNY Mellon [1] Future Developments - Zero will feature three initial zones that are fully owned and governed by the network, including environments for general-purpose EVM compatibility, privacy-focused payments, and trading across various markets [2] - LayerZero plans to provide interoperability between these zones and over 165 blockchains, enhancing the overall functionality of the network [2]