The fourth-largest cryptocurrency exchange, OKX, announced that the public mainnet of its new layer-2 blockchain, dubbed X Layer, has gone online. This is an extension of the trend where big cryptocurrency organisations have started their own distributed networks.
X Layer, formerly known as X1, leverages Polygon’s Chain Development Kit (CDK), an adaptable framework that enables users to employ zero-knowledge technologies to create their own chains.
The announcement coincides with the pursuit of layer-2 networks by other significant bitcoin exchanges during the past 12 months. Optimism’s OP Stack is the foundation of Coinbase’s “Base” blockchain, which was introduced in August. It has been revealed that Kraken is considering developing its own layer-2 blockchain.
According to a press release from OKX, X Layer will be connected to Polygon’s larger ecosystem through the AggLayer, and its developers will be contributing to the CDK’s development. AggLayer is a Polygon product designed to combine liquidity from several chains that have been spun up with the help of the project’s technology.
According to Polygon Labs Chief Executive Officer Mark Boiron, “OKX’s 50 million users now have an easy path to onboarding to X Layer and all the other chains connected to the AggLayer.”
With more scheduled to arrive soon, users of X Layer, which debuted on the testnet in November, will have access to more than 170 decentralised applications (dapps).
According to the press announcement, OKX Chief Marketing Officer Haider Rafique stated, “We envision X Layer and other layer-2 chains as the highway infrastructure of the Web3 world, with dApps as the marketplaces and self-hosted wallets as the vehicles that take you there.”