LayerZero, a blockchain interoperability protocol helping cross-chain transfers, has announced ATLAS, new exchange infrastructure for trading platforms and financial institutions.
ATLAS, short for Aggregated Trading, Liquidity and Settlement, is built on the Zero blockchain that LayerZero announced in February in collaboration with Citadel Securities, DTCC, ARK Invest and Intercontinental Exchange. Zero is designed for financial markets and uses zero-knowledge proofs to verify trades onchain.
LayerZero said ATLAS is a "headless exchange," meaning it does not have its own consumer app or trading platform. Crypto exchanges, brokers, and financial institutions can use ATLAS at the backend while keeping their own users and interface.
LayerZero said that with ATLAS, trading platforms won't have to build infrastructure themselves or rely on a competing exchange, and that the system brings matching, clearing, settlement, and risk management into one place instead of handling them separately.
ATLAS will support both "open" and institutional markets. Open markets can serve crypto apps, prediction markets, and other public trading products, while institutional markets can set their own rules for who can trade and under what conditions.
