LayerZero has launched ATLAS, a trading and settlement engine built on its Zero blockchain that combines matching, clearing, settlement and risk management in one system. The token ZRO jumped on the news, and a new buy-and-burn mechanism now ties trading fees on the network directly to ZRO's supply.
LayerZero unveiled ATLAS, short for Aggregated Trading Liquidity and Settlement, a system built on its Zero blockchain meant to serve as the backend for exchanges and platforms trading crypto and tokenized assets. Markets on the system could range from spot crypto and perpetual futures to stocks, bonds, commodities and prediction markets, LayerZero said in a Tuesday press release.
A single backend for matching, clearing and settlement
ATLAS won't have its own trading app. Instead, venues can plug into the infrastructure while keeping their own interface and customers. The system ships in two configurations: Open ATLAS targets crypto trading apps and prediction markets, while Institutional ATLAS lets exchanges and financial firms set their own market rules on the same underlying engine, according to the team's X post.
At launch, the system processes up to 200,000 transactions per second with median latency under 1 millisecond, a figure Crypto Briefing compared with Solana's theoretical maximum of about 65,000 TPS.
ZRO jumps as fees get tied to the token
LayerZero's ZRO token surged more than 30% on the announcement, according to CoinDesk. Crypto Briefing put the move at roughly 20%, pushing ZRO's market cap to $746 million.
The rally follows tokenomics changes baked into ATLAS. Venues can stake ZRO for higher fee rebates, and 75% of fees left after venue rebates and payments to market creators will be used to buy and burn ZRO, reducing its supply. Bryan Pellegrino, LayerZero's co-founder and CEO, said in a statement: "We built ATLAS to be the neutral, performant backend to power them all."
The launch follows a rough patch for cross-chain bridging
LayerZero's Zero blockchain was announced in February with partners including DTCC, ICE and Google Cloud, plus a strategic investment from Citadel Securities. The expansion into trading infrastructure comes after a rough patch for LayerZero's cross-chain business: several protocols moved away from its bridging infrastructure after attackers stole about $292 million worth of assets from Kelp DAO's LayerZero-powered bridge in April.
Sources: CoinDesk, Crypto Briefing
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