The Ink Foundation will debut a native token for Kraken's layer two network on Ethereum; see what we know so far.

The cryptocurrency exchange Kraken announced that its layer two network on Ethereum, called Ink, will have its own token, the INK, launched by the Ink Foundation — an organization that is being presented as independent of the American exchange.

Launched in October of last year, the Ink Network is a layer two blockchain based on the OP Stack of Optimism, making it part of the Optimism Superchain — a set of layer two networks on Ethereum that share infrastructure and security components.

"The Ink Foundation believes that the INK token can sustain a new wave of DeFi on the Ink blockchain, built around concentrated liquidity and essential functionalities," stated the Board of Directors of the Ink Foundation to Decrypt.

Given the connection of the Ink Network with the Optimism Superchain, the INK token will not act as a governance token. Instead, the network will maintain its commitment to revenue sharing with the Optimism Collective and governance via Optimism.

The INK will have a fixed supply of 1 billion tokens, and its first use case will focus on a liquidity protocol powered by the renowned DeFi protocol Aave.

"The INK token was created to support the DeFi ecosystem on the Ink layer, both at the community level and in applications," said the foundation's board. "From lending to trading and beyond, the Ink Foundation envisions a future where INK drives a robust DeFi ecosystem, governed by its users and aligned with their success."

How to earn the new Kraken token?

Early users of the liquidity protocol based on Aave will be eligible for an airdrop of INK tokens, through the foundation's 'first planned distribution mechanism', although more details about the tokenomics have yet to be disclosed.

The Ink Foundation refused to share information about the token launch schedule. It is still unclear who is involved in the Ink Foundation.

As a supposedly independent entity, the Ink Foundation was created to manage the Ink Network and its token going forward, supporting the development of the protocol and the growth of the ecosystem. However, Kraken itself launched the network, as highlighted in a company blog post last year.