LayerZero (ZRO) Soars 40% Amid Zero Blockchain Debut, Major Institutional Backing

ZRO, the native token of the omnichain interpretability protocol LayerZero, has skyrocketed more than 40% on the past day following the announcement of its new Layer-1 (L1) blockchain backed by major institutional players.

On Tuesday, LayerZero Labs announced a new L1 blockchain, Zero, aimed at institutional financial markets. According to the announcement, it is set to launch in fall 2026, with three initial “zones,” described as permissionless environments fully owned and governed by the underlying network.

Moreover, ZRO will serve as the network’s native token, providing interoperability between Zones and across the 165+ blockchains it connects.

Designed to “eliminate the long-standing scalability challenges of decentralized networks,” Zero is set to process 2 million transactions per second (TPS) per Zone and charge near-zero fees by targeting four primary bottlenecks.

“By leveraging Zero-Knowledge (ZK) proofs to decouple execution from verification, Zero transitions the network from redundant replication to a heterogeneous architecture,” LayerZero Labs explained on X.

“This structural shift allows for two distinct validator classes: lightweight Block Validators capable of running on low-grade consumer hardware and optional higher performance Block Producers,” it continued.

Bryan Pellegrino, CEO of LayerZero Labs, affirmed that Zero’s architecture advances the industry’s roadmap by at least a decade. “We believe we can actually bring the entire global economy onchain with this technology. Our mission is to build permissionless infrastructure for a better world – this is the beginning of that world,” he added.

The rollout was backed by key institutional players, including Citadel Securities, The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), ARK Invest, Google Cloud, and Intercontinental Exchange (ICE).

Notably, Citadel Securities is collaborating to evaluate how its technology could apply to trading, clearing, and settlement workflows. Additionally, it made a strategic investment in ZRO.

ARK Invest is becoming a shareholder of LayerZero equity and ZRO. Meanwhile, Cathie Wood, the company’s CEO and CIO, joined LayerZero’s new advisory board alongside Michael Blaugrund, VP of Strategic Initiatives at ICE, and Caroline Butler, former head of digital assets at BNY Mellon.

“This is a historic opportunity at the intersection of finance and the internet. I am thrilled to join LayerZero’s advisory board and help accelerate the adoption of Zero by the largest markets and companies in the world,” Wood said in a statement.

DTCC will investigate the Zero blockchain architecture to enhance the scalability of the DTC Tokenization Service and collateral management, while ICE will examine it for 24/7 trading and tokenized collateral.

Moreover, Google Cloud partnered to explore how to enable AI agents to make micropayments and trade resources instantly. Tether also announced a separate strategic investment in LayerZero Labs on Tuesday.

Following the news, ZRO soared more than 40% in the last 24 hours, hitting a four-month high of $2.59 on Wednesday morning. The cryptocurrency had been trading between the $1.50 and $2.00 area over the past few weeks, reaching a local low of $1.35 during last week’s crash.

Now, the recent momentum has pushed LayerZero back above the $2.00 area and toward a major resistance area. The cryptocurrency has been unable to reclaim the $2.60 mark since June, being rejected from this area after each retest.

If ZRO reclaims $2.60, it could target the next major resistance, located at around $3.00. Analyst Crypto Tony affirmed that if the cryptocurrency clears this level, “we are good for $3.30. Wave 3 is beginning.”

As of this writing, ZRO is trading at $2.45, a 36.5% increase in the weekly timeframe.