TVL on Kraken’s L2 Ink Surges 3,800% in Less Than Two Weeks

Why It Matters

The rapid inflow of capital via a single white‑label DeFi product underscores the potential for exchanges to bootstrap liquidity on new L2s, while the concurrent drop in user activity and fee revenue raises questions about the long‑term sustainability of such growth.

Summary

Ink, Kraken's Optimism‑based L2 launched in December 2024, saw its total value locked surge 3,800% in under two weeks, rising from $6.42 million to about $249 million. More than 97% of the jump came from Tydro, a non‑custodial lending protocol built as a white‑label Aave clone and integrated with Kraken, which now holds a $350 million market size with $108 million borrowed and $243.5 million supplied. Tydro quickly became Ink's second‑largest protocol by weekly revenue, generating $3,179 since launch, trailing only the Velodrome exchange. Despite the TVL explosion, daily active addresses have fallen more than 50% from a March peak to roughly 60,300, and network fees have slipped to under $500 per day.