Deng Tong, Golden Finance

On February 10, 2026, LayerZero officially launched the "Zero" blockchain designed specifically for institutional-level financial markets. It adopts a heterogeneous architecture and zero-knowledge proof technology, with a theoretical throughput of 2 million TPS and transaction costs as low as one millionth of a US dollar.

Affected by the good news, ZRO rose 17.9% in 24 hours to US$2.32 as of press time.

1. What is LayerZero project?

LayerZero was founded in February 2021, and the company's main body is LayerZero Labs. Co-founded by Bryan Pellegrino (CEO), Ryan Zarick (CTO), and Caleb Banister.

LayerZero is a full-chain messaging protocol—a permissionless, open framework designed to securely transfer information between blockchains. It gives any application the ability to autonomously implement security, execution, and cross-chain interactions, providing a predictable and adaptable foundation for decentralized applications running on multiple networks.

LayerZero redefines cross-chain interaction by combining the following key architectural elements:

• Immutable Smart Contracts: Non-upgradeable endpoint contracts deployed on every blockchain. These immutable contracts serve as secure entry and exit for messages, ensuring consistency and trust across all networks.

• Configurable message library:LayerZero provides a flexible message library. Developers can choose the appropriate library according to their needs to customize the way of sending off-chain messages. This flexibility means applications can optimize message formatting and processing based on specific needs without being limited to one-size-fits-all solutions.

• Modular security controlled by applications: Rather than relying on a centralized authentication network, LayerZero allows each application to configure its own security stack. Developers can choose from a variety of decentralized verification networks (DVNs) and set parameters such as finality and enforcement rules. This modular approach shifts control to the application, enabling customized security that evolves with emerging technologies.

• Permissionless execution: By opening the execution permissions of cross-chain messages to everyone, LayerZero ensures that once a message is verified, it can be executed without gatekeepers. This open design eliminates bottlenecks and promotes seamless interactions within the blockchain network.

Through this, LayerZero can solve the problems of multi-chain ecological fragmentation, high cross-chain costs, rigid security models, and complex interoperability.

2. Highlights of institutional-level blockchain Zero

Institutional-level blockchain Zero is launched by LayerZero.

Zero is built on four breakthrough technologies: storage, compute, networking and zero-knowledge, each of which achieves 100x compound growth, scales to 2 million transactions per second (TPS), and supports an unlimited number of blocks. Zero’s improvements result in more ample block space, with performance and throughput approximately 100,000 times faster than Ethereum and approximately 500 times higher than Solana.

Traditional blockchain requires each node to perform the same work repeatedly, while Zero introduces a heterogeneous architecture for the first time. Zero leverages Zero-Knowledge Proofs (ZKP) and Jolt to decouple transaction execution from verification, eliminating the “replication requirement” that has long limited blockchains to less than 10,000 transactions per second.

Zero will be able to verify, build and trade without permission. Scheduled to launch in the fall of 2026, it will initially consist of three “zones” – permissionless environments fully owned and managed by the underlying network – designed to redefine what is possible for on-chain applications: from a general-purpose EVM environment compatible with any Solidity contract, to a privacy-focused payments infrastructure, to a standard, best-in-class trading environment for all markets and asset classes.

ZRO is the network’s token and LayerZero will provide interoperability between regions and the 165+ blockchains it connects to.

LayerZero Labs CEO Bryan Pellegrino said: "Zero's architecture advances the entire industry's roadmap by at least ten years. We believe that this technology can truly bring the entire global economy to the blockchain. Our mission is to build permissionless infrastructure and create a better world - and this is the beginning of this world."

3. Who is cooperating with LayerZero?

• Citadel Securities
  

Citadel Securities is working with LayerZero to provide market structure expertise and evaluate how its technology can be applied to trading, clearing and settlement workflows that require high performance and reliability. Citadel Securities also made a strategic investment in ZRO.

Note: Citadel Securities is the world's largest and most technologically advanced market maker (Market Maker): processing approximately 20% of U.S. stock trading volume and approximately 35% of U.S. retail stock orders; covering 99% of U.S. stock options; providing liquidity in more than 50 markets around the world, and is a top market maker in interest rate swaps, foreign exchange and other fields; and one of the world's largest ETF traders.

• DTCC (Depository and Clearing Corporation)
  

DTCC will explore how to leverage the major technological advances contained in the Zero blockchain architecture to improve the scalability of DTC tokenization services and collateral application chains.

Frank La, President and CEO of DTCC Salla noted: “DTCC has been committed to promoting the popularity and application of digital assets, but due to limitations of speed and scale, the full potential of blockchain technology has not yet been fully realized. We believe that by working with various parties in the industry, we can unlock the value of blockchain and bring transformative benefits to market participants, including Including collateral liquidity, new trading models and programmable assets. We look forward to working with LayerZero and other partners to further advance our digital strategy through security tokenization while ensuring security, strong scalability, sound legal foundation and seamless interoperability. ”

Note: DTCC (Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation) is the world's most important financial market infrastructure (FMI) institution. It is responsible for the clearing, settlement, custody and risk control of the US and global financial markets. It is the "pipeline and ledger" of the modern financial system.

• Intercontinental Exchange (ICE)
  

Intercontinental Exchange is currently investigating potential applications for Zero and is working on upgrading its trading and clearing infrastructure to support around-the-clock market operations and the potential integration of tokenized collateral.

Michael Blauglund, Vice President of Strategic Planning at Intercontinental Exchange, said: "Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) has long been committed to advancing the development of technology that supports global markets. We will continue to explore innovations that can improve global capital efficiency, coverage and influence. Our exploration of Zero's high-performance blockchain architecture aims to deepen our understanding of how technological advances on the chain can bring new application scenarios and opportunities in areas such as trading, clearing, settlement and capital formation."

Note: Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) is the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange and operates a network of leading derivatives exchanges and clearing houses around the world, including the world's largest energy market and the world's largest credit default swap clearing house.

• ARK Invest
  

ARK Invest will become a shareholder of LayerZero Equity and $ZRO.

Cathie Wood, founder, CEO and CIO of ARK Invest, stated: "This is a historic opportunity at the intersection of finance and the Internet. I am excited to join LayerZero's advisory board and help accelerate the adoption of Zero technology in the world's largest markets and companies. I have known Bryan and his team for some time, and there are few other organizations that make me as confident about the future as LayerZero."

Note: ARK Invest is an American active management asset management company that focuses on disruptive innovation. With Cathie Wood as its core, it focuses on high-growth, high-volatility technology-themed ETFs and is an iconic institution in the global innovative investment field.

• Google Cloud
  

Google Cloud will join as a partner to explore how AI agents can make instant micropayments and resource transactions without the need for a bank account.

Richard Widmann, head of Web3 strategy at Google Cloud, noted: "We are seeing cloud computing and blockchain converging. As artificial intelligence agents begin to become economic players, the programmability of cryptocurrencies and blockchain will require infrastructure as reliable as cloud computing itself. LayerZero is fundamentally rethinking how blockchain operates. By combining their expertise with our infrastructure, we are exploring how to expand the definition of the Internet to include value."

Note: Google Cloud is a global cloud computing platform owned by Google. With its core advantages of AI native, self-developed TPU, big data and container technology, it is the third largest cloud service provider in the world.

• Tether Investments
  

Tether Investments has made a strategic investment in LayerZero Labs, a move that demonstrates Tether Investments’ support for the development of proven, production-grade interoperability infrastructure that will be used across the global digital asset ecosystem.

Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino said: "The infrastructure Tether has invested in is already capable of delivering real-world application value. The interoperability technology built by LayerZero Labs enables real-time transfer of digital assets across any transport layer and distributed ledger, bringing a fundamental feature to the financial industry. This enables digital assets to serve an infinite agent AI economy that requires such fundamental technologies to coordinate micropayments at an unprecedented scale."

Note: Tether Investments is an independent investment institution under the digital asset industry giant Tether. Its investment portfolio covers areas such as artificial intelligence, financial services, energy, biotechnology, education and digital media, and holds strategic shares in commodities, remittances, sports and entertainment and other industries.

4. Why LayerZero attracts the attention of top institutions

Because LayerZero can meet the practical needs of large institutions: With the improvement of infrastructure and clarity of regulatory policies, large financial institutions are entering the field of cryptocurrency more decisively. Asset managers, exchanges and clearing houses are increasingly looking to blockchain as a potential upgrade to traditional systems rather than a platform for speculation, particularly in trading, settlement and collateral management. Crypto-native technology is mature enough to support real-world financial markets at scale.

LayerZero is trying to become the "next generation global financial clearing infrastructure."

LayerZero may solve the structural bottlenecks that have long plagued the financialization of blockchain; the architecture allows for progressive implementation; it can achieve cross-chain; it can achieve the combination of AI and asset tokenization. Therefore, once LayerZero really succeeds, it will not only be an increase in token prices, but also issues such as whether global securities will be on-chain, whether the liquidation cycle will disappear, whether collateral can flow in real time, and whether the market will truly operate 24/7.

Therefore, LayerZero can attract the attention of top institutions because it has the potential to solve the urgent needs of financial institutions.

In the future, if LayerZero’s technical route can be implemented as planned and withstand the test of high-frequency trading, clearing and settlement, and risk control in real financial scenarios, its impact may go beyond the encryption industry itself.