LayerZero, which drove a KRW 16 trillion inflow for Tether, unveils mainnet…steps up push into South Korea

LayerZero launches 'Zero' mainnet

Introduces zero-knowledge proofs...cuts costs by a factor of 50

Wall Street heavyweights join, including Citadel and ARK Invest

"Tether revenue also rose"…Korean finance sector shows strong interest

LayerZero (LayerZero, ZRO), a cross-chain interoperability protocol that has connected more than 150 blockchains worldwide, has unveiled its own mainnet, 'Zero.' The company aims to build finance-grade infrastructure that overcomes the speed and cost constraints of existing blockchains and to leap into a blockchain platform spanning global financial markets. It also plans to accelerate its push into South Korea’s won-denominated stablecoin and real-world asset (RWA) markets on the back of this launch.

On the 11th, LayerZero held a press briefing at the Glad Hotel in Yeouido, Seoul, where it presented the technical features of its next-generation blockchain architecture 'Zero,' its global expansion strategy, and its plans for entering the Korean market.

"NYSE trading volumes can be brought on-chain…with costs cut to one-fiftieth"

In a keynote address, Lim Jong-gyu, LayerZero’s Asia-Pacific (APAC) head, introduced the 'Zero' mainnet, saying, "We held a separate briefing in Seoul after New York because we view the Korean market as strategically important."

Lim underscored the need for 'Zero' by pointing to the technical limitations of existing blockchains. "The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) processes up to 2 million transactions per second, but even high-performance chains such as Solana handle only about 4,000 per second," he said, adding, "Simple optimization won’t meet the performance standards demanded by the financial industry."

To address this, LayerZero has adopted zero-knowledge proof (ZK) technology. By verifying only the validity of information without disclosing all payment details, it has dramatically reduced network load, the company said. It also applied a structure that distributes processing depending on transaction characteristics, securing consistency and stability.

According to the company, Zero was designed to target more than a 100-fold performance improvement over existing blockchains through innovations across computing, storage, networking and ZK. It said it built a compute scheduling technology (FAFO) that supports 1 million transactions per second and a high-speed verifiable database (QMDB) capable of processing 3 million state updates per second.

It also stressed that operating costs could be sharply reduced. Lim said, "With current technology, putting all NYSE trades on-chain would cost more than KRW 5 trillion a year, but using Zero would make it possible to operate for less than KRW 100 billion," adding, "Our goal is to deliver the level of transaction processing required by global financial markets in a blockchain environment." He continued, "LayerZero aims to become the plumbing of the digital asset market," and added, "We will create an environment where any application or blockchain can be onboarded."

Wall Street 'big money' joins, including ARK Invest and Citadel…ties up with Nexon

LayerZero also disclosed a lineup of global partners participating in the Zero ecosystem. Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), the NYSE’s parent company, the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), hedge-fund market maker Citadel, Google Cloud, and ARK Invest were named as launch partners and investors.

Cathie Wood, CEO of ARK Invest, and Michael Blaugrund, Vice President of Strategic Initiatives at ICE, among others, are joining LayerZero’s advisory board to support expansion of the Zero ecosystem.

Cooperation with Korean companies has also been made more concrete. LayerZero said it signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for a partnership with Nexpace, Nexon’s blockchain subsidiary. The plan is to connect Nexpace’s gaming ecosystem to Zero to explore new business models.

A LayerZero official said, "We are currently in talks with Nexpace across multiple areas. Details of a more concrete partnership will be announced soon."

"Tether revenue up KRW 600 billion in nine months"…courting Korea’s financial sector

Brian Pellegrino, co-founder of LayerZero, delivered a message to Korea’s financial sector via a video link.

He said, "After adopting LayerZero’s solution, Tether expanded its issuance chains from just three—Ethereum, Tron and TON—to 16 in nine months," adding, "As a result, an additional $11 billion (about KRW 16 trillion) in assets flowed in, which led to a direct annual revenue increase of around KRW 600 billion." He emphasized that expanding technical infrastructure translated directly into revenue growth.

LayerZero’s strategy is to apply such success cases to the Korean market as well. Pellegrino said, "Korea has strong fintech capabilities—enough to be called Asia’s financial hub—and it is quick to adopt digital assets," adding, "We can solve the liquidity expansion and cost-efficiency challenges faced by won stablecoin issuers."

He continued, "Just as we did when partnering with Tether, we want to continue in-depth discussions with Korean financial institutions that are considering strategic partnerships beyond simply adopting technology," clearly signaling its intent to expand in the Korean market.

Hwang Doo-hyun, Bloomingbit reporter cow5361@bloomingbit.io