Kraken Joins Exodus from LayerZero, Adopts Chainlink CCIP
Kraken has officially migrated its cross-chain infrastructure from LayerZero to Chainlink‘s Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP) following the $292 million Kelp DAO exploit in April 2026. The decision, announced on May 15, positions Chainlink as Kraken’s sole partner for securing wrapped tokens, including its Kraken Wrapped Bitcoin (kBTC). “Chainlink CCIP offers enterprise-grade infrastructure with strict security and risk management requirements,” Kraken stated. These include a secure-by-default design, 16 independent nodes, and native rate-limiting mechanisms—features that have become critical after the Kelp DAO attack exposed vulnerabilities in cross-chain protocols. LayerZero Fallout After the Kelp DAO Exploit The Kelp DAO breach on April 18, 2026, remains the largest DeFi exploit of the year. Attackers exploited a vulnerability in LayerZero‘s single Decentralized Verifier Network (DVN) setup to forge a cross-chain message, siphoning 116,500 rsETH worth approximately $292 million. LayerZero later attributed the hack to North Korea’s Lazarus Group but maintained the exploit was isolated to Kelp DAO‘s specific configuration. However, Kelp DAO countered that the vulnerability stemmed from LayerZero’s default settings. The incident triggered widespread concerns about the security of cross-chain bridges. Within 48 hours, total value locked (TVL) in DeFi dropped by $13 billion, highlighting the systemic risk posed by such exploits. More than $3 billion in