Citadel and ARK Invest Back LayerZero’s Zero Blockchain in Global Market Push
- Citadel and ARK acquire ZRO as LayerZero advances the Zero blockchain for institutions.
- Zero targets 2 million TPS and uses a new design that cuts network strain across nodes.
- DTCC and ICE join tests as firms explore on-chain tools for faster market cycles.
LayerZero has moved from cross-chain messaging into full-scale infrastructure with the unveiling of Zero blockchain, a network built for institutional markets and backed by Citadel Securities and ARK Invest. The announcement places the company in direct competition with established Layer-1 platforms that have long targeted financial institutions as their next growth frontier.
Revealed on February 10, 2026, the initiative combines aggressive performance targets with support from major financial operators. According to the firm’s press release, Citadel Securities and ARK Invest acquired ZRO tokens as part of strategic backing tied to the launch.
LayerZero also outlined alliances with The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), and Google Cloud, linking the project to core components of global market infrastructure. The reveal also puts a spotlight on the firm’s $4.6 billion valuation.
With Zero, LayerZero is no longer only plumbing for cross-chain messaging. It is pitching itself as a foundation for tokenized settlement and 24-hour trading cycles, a leap that brings new expectations and scrutiny.
Technical Blueprint and Performance Claims
At the center of the announcement is a bold claim: Zero blockchain is engineered to reach 2,000,000 transactions per second, a figure far beyond any current public chain. Ethereum, for instance, even after the Dencun upgrade, clears roughly 140 TPS at the base layer.
Solana, on the other hand, can spike toward 65,000 under ideal conditions, while Aptos has cited a theoretical ceiling near 160,000. However, none of those approaches come close to the scale LayerZero is promising. The company attributes the increase to a heterogeneous design that breaks from the standard replication model used across most blockchains.
Instead of having every node re-execute the same workload, Zero separates execution and verification through zero-knowledge proofs and a system called Jolt. The aim is to remove the bottleneck that has kept high-throughput experimentation capped at laboratory-style test networks.
LayerZero further acknowledges that the Zero blockchain will be EVM-compatible and will ship with integrated messaging features from its existing protocol. A testnet is planned for the second quarter of 2026, with the mainnet following one quarter later. Moreover, compliance controls, including KYC and AML at the protocol layer, are built in from the start, an uncommon architectural choice for a public chain.
Institutional Validators and Governance Shift
Notably, the validator model may be the most defining break from crypto norms. Per reports, Zero relies on permissioned, institution-run validators rather than open participation. Citadel Securities and Google Cloud were named among the early operators, a signal that LayerZero intends to guarantee uptime and satisfy regulatory expectations that govern traditional market infrastructure.
An advisory board has also been assembled. The board includes ARK Invest founder Cathie Wood, ICE executive Michael Blaugrund, and Caroline Butler, formerly head of digital assets at BNY Mellon. Their roles tie the network’s early decision-making to institutions already familiar with clearing, custody, and post-trade oversight.
Nevertheless, critics argue that such a structure weakens decentralization. Supporters counter that institutional users will not deploy assets at scale without predictable governance and formal accountability.
Financial Backing and Market Integration Plans
Citadel Securities and ARK Invest both acquired ZRO tokens as part of the launch. LayerZero, regardless, did not disclose the size or terms of those purchases. The company also detailed teamwork with DTCC and ICE.
Per reports, DTCC’s involvement focuses on market plumbing, while ICE is exploring whether Zero could help support 24/7 trading cycles, an ongoing aspiration across exchanges seeking faster settlement.
Meanwhile, Google Cloud was listed as an infrastructure partner, anchoring the network to cloud resources already familiar to regulated financial firms. Early use cases include tokenized securities, cross-border payments, and institutional DeFi, areas where technical reliability often outweighs ideological purity.
Related: Indian MP Raghav Chadha Urges Crypto Legalization to Stop Offshore Flight
What Comes Next for Zero
Zero enters a field where enthusiasm for tokenization is climbing, yet production deployments remain slow. Governance, scale, and operational risk continue to hold back most pilots.
As a result, LayerZero now faces a direct test: whether it can produce the performance it has advertised and whether institutions will trust a new chain over the systems they already use. Citadel Securities’ involvement adds a layer of interest around token incentives, vesting schedules, and alignment between investors and developers.
Still, the next phase, starting with the Q2 testnet, will show whether the network’s engineering claims translate beyond launch-day announcements. For now, Zero places LayerZero squarely in the global race to build the digital rails for financial markets. Whether that bet pays off will depend less on vision and more on delivery.
