LayerZero Unveils ATLAS Trading Engine Amid Ecosystem Rebound

Larry Zero has released ATLAS, a trading and settlement engine designed to sit underneath exchanges rather than compete with them. The announcement was made on Tuesday, and ZRO jumped over 20% in value following the news. ATLAS is intended to be used by trading venues, which can plug into it without building their own matching, clearing, settlement, and risk systems.

According to LayerZero, venues built on existing exchanges often end up competing with that exchange's own app, which deters institutions from putting their core business on rails operated by a competitor. ATLAS will have two versions: one for crypto apps and prediction markets, and another for firms that need to enforce their own rules on the same engine.

The market can range from spot and perps to stocks, bonds, commodities, and predictions. Venues stake ZRO, which earns them fee rebates of 20% to 65%, and after those rebates, 75% of what's left is used to buy and burn ZRO while 25% goes to whoever created the market.

This major announcement comes at a critical time for the LayerZero ecosystem, which has seen an exodus of protocols in recent months following a $292 million attack on Kelp DAO's bridge. However, momentum seems to be returning, and ATLAS is designed to house all the biggest winners of this upcoming cycle in perps, tokenized stocks, prediction markets, and broader RWAs.