What makes LayerZero so appealing to Citadel Securities, DTCC, and Ark Capital?

Deng Tong, Jinse Finance

On February 10, 2026, LayerZero officially launched the "Zero" blockchain, designed specifically for institutional financial markets. It employs 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 dollar.

Affected by this positive news, as of press time, ZRO has risen 17.9% in the past 24 hours, reaching $2.32.

I. What is LayerZero?

LayerZero was founded in February 2021, and its main company is LayerZero Labs.

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 transmit information between blockchains. It empowers any application to autonomously implement security, execution, and cross-chain interaction, 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-upgradable endpoint contracts are deployed on each blockchain. These immutable contracts serve as secure entry and exit points for messages, ensuring consistency and trust across all networks. Configurable Message Repositories: LayerZero provides flexible message repositories, allowing developers to choose appropriate repositories to customize how off-chain messages are sent. This flexibility means that applications can optimize message formatting and processing according to specific needs, without being limited to a one-size-fits-all solution. Modular Security with Application-Controlled Capabilities: LayerZero does not rely on centralized verification networks, but instead 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 execution rules. This modular approach shifts control to the application, enabling customized security that evolves with emerging technologies. Permissionless Execution: LayerZero ensures that once a message is verified, it can be executed without gatekeepers by opening up cross-chain message execution permissions to everyone. This open design eliminates bottlenecks and facilitates seamless interaction within the blockchain network. In this way, LayerZero can solve problems such as fragmented multi-chain ecosystems, high cross-chain costs, rigid security models, and complex interoperability.

II. Highlights of Zero, the Institutional-Grade Blockchain

Zero, the institutional-grade blockchain, is launched by LayerZero.

Zero is built on four groundbreaking technologies: storage, computation, network, and zero-knowledge base. Each technology achieves a 100x compound growth, scalable 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 blockchains require each node to repeatedly perform the same work, while Zero introduces a heterogeneous architecture for the first time. Zero uses zero-knowledge proofs (ZKP) and Jolt to decouple transaction execution from verification, thereby eliminating the "replication requirement" that has long limited blockchains to less than 10,000 transactions per second.

Zero will allow verification, building, and transactions without permission.

Zero will allow verification, building, and transactions without permission.

Scheduled for launch in the fall of 2026, it will initially comprise three “zones”—permissionless environments fully owned and managed by the underlying network—aimed at redefining the possibilities of on-chain applications: from a universal EVM environment compatible with any Solidity contract, to privacy-focused payment infrastructure, to a standard, best-in-class trading environment applicable to all markets and asset classes. ZRO is the network’s token, and LayerZero will provide interoperability between zones and the more than 165 blockchains it connects to. LayerZero Labs CEO Bryan Pellegrino stated, “Zero’s architecture advances the entire industry’s roadmap by at least a decade. We believe this technology has the potential to truly bring the entire global economy onto the chain. Our mission is to build permissionless infrastructure to create a better world—and this is where that begins.” III. Who is partnering with LayerZero?

• Citadel Securities
  

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

Note: Citadel Securities is the world's largest and most technologically advanced market maker: handling approximately 20% of US stock trading volume and approximately 35% of US retail stock orders; covering 99% of US stock option underlying assets; providing liquidity in more than 50 markets worldwide; a top market maker in areas such as interest rate swaps and foreign exchange; and one of the world's largest ETF dealers.

• DTCC (Depository and Clearing Corporation)
  

DTCC will explore how to leverage the significant technological advancements inherent in the Zero blockchain architecture to enhance the scalability of DTC tokenization services and collateral application chains.

DTCC will explore how to leverage the significant technological advancements inherent in the Zero blockchain architecture to enhance the scalability of DTC tokenization services and collateral application chains.

Frank La Salla, President and CEO of DTCC, stated, “DTCC has always been committed to promoting the adoption and use of digital assets, but the full potential of blockchain technology has not yet been fully realized due to limitations in speed and scale. We believe that by collaborating with various stakeholders in the industry, we can unlock the value of blockchain and bring transformative benefits to market participants, 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, robust scalability, a sound legal foundation, and seamless interoperability.” Note: DTCC (Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation) is one of the world's most important financial market infrastructure (FMI) institutions, responsible for clearing, settlement, custody, and risk control in the US and global financial markets. It serves as the “pipeline and ledger” of the modern financial system. Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) is currently exploring the potential applications of Zero and upgrading its trading and clearing infrastructure to support 24/7 market operations and the potential integration of tokenized collateral. Michael Broglund, Vice President of Strategic Planning at ICE, stated, “ICE has a long history of advancing technology that underpins global markets. We will continue to explore innovations that enhance global capital efficiency, reach, and impact. Our exploration of the Zero high-performance blockchain architecture aims to deepen our understanding of how on-chain technological advancements can create new applications 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 leading global network of derivatives exchanges and clearinghouses, including the world’s largest energy market and the world’s largest credit default swap clearinghouse.

• ARK Invest
  

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

ARK Invest founder, CEO and CIO Cathie Wood 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 few other organizations inspire as much confidence in the future as LayerZero."

Note: ARK Invest is a US-based actively managed asset management company focused on disruptive innovation. With Cathie Wood at its core, it specializes in high-growth, high-volatility technology-themed ETFs and is a landmark institution in the global innovation investment field.

ARK Invest is a US-based actively managed asset management company focused on disruptive innovation. It is centered around Cathie Wood and focuses on high-growth, high-volatility technology-themed ETFs.

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

ARK Invest founder, CEO and Cathie Wood, 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.

• Google Cloud
  

Google Cloud will join as a partner to explore how AI agents can instantly make small payments and trade resources without a bank account.

Richard Widmann, Head of Web3 Strategy at Google Cloud, pointed out: "We are seeing cloud computing and blockchain converging. As AI agents begin to become economic participants, the programmability of cryptocurrencies and blockchain will require infrastructure as reliable as cloud computing itself. LayerZero is fundamentally rethinking how blockchain works. 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 Google's global cloud computing platform, with AI-native, self-developed TPU, big data, and container technologies as its core strengths. It is the world's third-largest cloud service provider.

• Tether Investments
  

Tether Investments has made a strategic investment in LayerZero Labs, demonstrating its support for developing proven, production-grade interoperability infrastructure for use across the global digital asset ecosystem.

Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino stated, "The infrastructure invested in by Tether already offers real-world value. The interoperability technology built by LayerZero Labs enables digital assets to be transferred in real time across any transport layer and distributed ledger, providing a fundamental function for the financial industry. This allows digital assets to serve the unlimited AI economy of intelligent agents, which requires such foundational technologies to coordinate micropayments at an unprecedented scale."

Note: Tether Investments is an independent investment arm of Tether, a giant in the digital asset industry.

Its portfolio spans artificial intelligence, financial services, energy, biotechnology, education, and digital media, and holds strategic stakes in commodities, remittances, and sports and entertainment.

IV. Why LayerZero Attracts Top Institutional Attention

Because LayerZero meets the real needs of large institutions: With the improvement of infrastructure and the clarification of regulatory policies, large financial institutions are more decisively entering the cryptocurrency field. Asset management companies, exchanges, and clearinghouses are increasingly inclined to view blockchain as a potential upgrade to traditional systems rather than a speculative platform, especially in trading, settlement, and collateral management. Crypto-native technology is mature enough to support real-world financial markets on a large scale.

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

LayerZero may solve the structural bottlenecks that have long plagued the financialization of blockchain; its architecture allows for incremental implementation; it can achieve cross-chain functionality; and it enables the combination of AI and asset tokenization.

LayerZero may solve the structural bottlenecks that have long plagued the financialization of blockchain; its architecture allows for incremental implementation; it can achieve cross-chain functionality; and it enables the combination of AI and asset tokenization.

Therefore, if LayerZero truly succeeds, it won't just lead to a rise in token price; it will also involve questions such as whether global securities will be on-chain, whether liquidation cycles will disappear, whether collateral can be liquidated in real time, and whether markets will truly operate 24/7. Thus, LayerZero's ability to attract the attention of top institutions essentially stems from its potential to address the essential needs of financial institutions. In the future, if LayerZero's technological roadmap can be implemented as planned and withstand the tests of high-frequency trading, clearing and settlement, and risk control in real-world financial scenarios, its impact may extend beyond the crypto industry itself.