LayerZero on Gelato RaaS: Omnichain Interop

Overview (TL;DR)

• Blockchains need a universal communication layer. LayerZero serves as the TCP/IP for blockchains to enable cross-chain messaging without dictating verification methods.
• Applications should control their own security. A modular approach lets developers calibrate security based on their specific needs rather than being locked in to a fixed vendor’s approach.
• Cross-chain infrastructure must be immutable. Immutable endpoints eliminate upgrade-related vulnerabilities.
• Security requires defense in depth. The X of Y of N model allows applications to configure their security requirements.
• Cross-chain operations need graceful failure handling. Horizontal composability allows transactions to split into independent atomic pieces that can succeed or fail separately.
• Data queries shouldn't require roundtrips. lzRead enables smart contracts to efficiently query cross-chain data.
• Multi-chain integration should preserve sovereignty. ABC Stack builders can leverage LayerZero to tap into external liquidity while maintaining control over their security parameters.

The future isn't about one chain ruling them all—it's about each blockchain focusing on what it does best while interoperating with others.

That sounds like a nice vision, but blockchains don't natively communicate with each other. LayerZero aims to serve as the TCP/IP for blockchains through cross-chain messaging and infrastructure that allows applications to maintain control over their security model.

LayerZero views blockchains as nodes in a larger Omnichain network. In this vision, competitors become complementary infrastructure. The blockchain landscape is an interconnected system of specialized chains where applications and assets can flow freely.

If I want to send a message to you, it shouldn’t pose any limitation that you use Android and I’m on a desktop computer, or whether you’re in Sweden and I’m in South America. We’ve stepped into this future because our devices, while different, aren’t defined by ecosystem boundaries and can speak the same language: TCP/IP.

LayerZero established itself as the leading messaging protocol by building the most secure and developer-friendly interop layer in the world.

The protocol design focuses on the transport layer, providing the infrastructure for messages to be transmitted without dictating how messages should be verified or executed. Prior to LayerZero, messaging protocols also served as validation layers. LayerZero’s protocol was built from first principles to be immutable, censorship-resistant, and permissionless.

The protocol introduces a flexible security model that allows applications to customize how they verify messages between blockchains, V2 completely separating verification from execution, giving developers control over their application's security model through configurable Decentralized Verifier Networks.

How to build a secure cross-chain application with LayerZero: Components

By modularizing the messaging stack, LayerZero enables applications to maintain complete control over their security model, rather than inheriting ecosystem-wide, vendor lock-in security assumptions. Furthermore, developers can calibrate security based on their specific use case - higher security for high-value transfers, lower overhead for frequent but smaller transactions.

This modular approach to security represents a significant evolution in how cross-chain applications manage risk. Traditional approaches forced all applications on a particular bridge to share the same security assumptions, regardless of their individual needs. The implications were substantial: high-value protocols were potentially under-secured, while smaller applications paid unnecessary overhead costs.

As new verification technologies emerge, applications can adopt these components without waiting for the entire protocol to upgrade. The X of Y of N model allows combining different verification approaches (ZK proofs, multi-sigs, oracles) and requirements to create defense-in-depth strategies tailored to each application.

Endpoints are immutable smart contracts deployed on each blockchain that serve as the entry and exit points for LayerZero messages. These provide a standardized interface for applications to send and receive messages across chains. The immutability of these contracts ensures that the core protocol remains stable and predictable over time.

The immutability of endpoints addresses one of the biggest problems with cross-chain security: upgrade risk. Many major bridge hacks have occurred due to vulnerabilities in upgrade mechanisms or centralized points of control. By making endpoints immutable, LayerZero eliminates this attack vector entirely. Applications can build with confidence knowing that the core messaging infrastructure won't change beneath them, while still benefiting from improvements through the append-only approach to message libraries.

When an application wants to send a message to another chain, it calls the send() function on its local Endpoint with the destination details and message payload. This initiates the cross-chain messaging process.

DVNs are independent entities that validate messages between chains. Applications can configure which DVNs to use and how many must verify a message before it's delivered, using an X of Y of N model where X represents required DVNs, Y represents the threshold of DVNs that must verify, and N represents the total number of available DVNs.

The diversity of available DVNs creates a security ecosystem where different verification methods can complement each other. This approach mimics how security works in the traditional world, where high-value assets aren't protected by a single security measure but by multiple layers working together. A bank doesn't rely solely on a vault door—it combines physical security, digital monitoring, human guards, and other measures.

For example, a "1 of 3 of 5" configuration would require one specific DVN plus any two from the remaining four DVNs to verify a message before it can be delivered. This allows applications to tailor their security model to their specific needs.

Running a DVN is permissionless. Current providers include entities like Polyhedra (ZK-based verification), ChainLink, Axelar, Blockdaemon, Stargate and Nethermind, giving applications diverse options for message verification.

Executors: How LayerZero enables permissionless cross-chain transactions

Once a message has been verified by the required DVNs, Executors handle the final delivery and execution on the destination chain. These off-chain services monitor the verification status of messages and execute them when all required verifications are complete.

The separation of execution from verification addresses a critical liveness concern in cross-chain messaging. In monolithic bridge designs, if the executor component fails, the entire system stops functioning, regardless of whether messages have been properly verified. By making execution permissionless, LayerZero ensures that verified messages will always be deliverable, even if specific execution services go offline.

Notably, execution is permissionless, meaning anyone can call the lzReceive() function on the destination Endpoint to deliver a verified message. However, most applications configure specific Executors to automate this process.

Message Library

Smart contracts for packing message payloads on the source chain and verifying them on the destination. These libraries are immutable and append-only so that the protocol can add new verification methods while preserving existing ones. The Ultra Light Node (ULN) is the default MessageLib implementation.

The append-only nature of message libraries creates a best-of-both-worlds scenario for protocol evolution. The core messaging functionality remains stable and secure, while new features and improvements can be added without disrupting existing applications.

Unlike shared security models such as Wormhole (which relies on a fixed set of 19 Guardians) or Axelar (which depends on its core validator set), LayerZero's approach allows each application to configure their own security stack and maintain sovereignty.

This model provides greater resilience against compromises that might affect all applications in a shared security system, as seen in the case of Ondo, which configured its own diverse set of DVNs including Polyhedra (ZK-based), Axelar (75 validators), one managed by LayerZero Labs, and will soon add their own. In fact, WBTC, PYUSD, Superform, Clusters, USDT0 are all counted among the teams that run their own LayerZero DVNs.

Horizontal Composability

LayerZero V2 introduced horizontal composability through the sendCompose and lzCompose interfaces. Unlike "all-or-nothing" vertical composability, horizontal composability allows a receiving contract to split execution into separate atomic pieces that can succeed or fail independently. This enables more flexible cross-chain operations, as applications can handle partial successes.

The shift to horizontal composability represents a fundamental improvement in cross-chain user experience. Consider the real-world frustration when a complex transaction fails completely due to a minor issue in one component. With horizontal composability, applications can implement more resilient operations that gracefully handle partial failures, much like how modern web applications maintain state across page reloads or network disruptions. This capability is particularly valuable for complex DeFi arbitrage operations that involve multiple steps across different chains.

For example, a cross-chain DEX might receive tokens in one atomic transaction, then initiate a separate composed transaction for performing the swap, allowing the token receipt to succeed even if the swap fails.

The ability to handle partial successes makes horizontal composability particularly valuable for complex cross-chain applications that involve multiple steps or interactions with different protocols across various chains.

How to integrate lzRead for efficient blockchain data queries

LayerZero has recently introduced lzRead, an implementation of Blockchain Query Language (BQL) that enables smart contracts to query data across chains efficiently. This innovation addresses the limitations of traditional push messaging for data queries by reducing gas costs by requiring payment only on the source chain, and decreases latency by eliminating roundtrips. Smart contracts can query both on-chain and off-chain data, current and historical.

Before lzRead, applications that needed to reference state from another chain had to implement complex messaging patterns with high latency and gas costs.

This capability unlocks new use cases such as yield streaming vaults that can maintain global price-per-share across chains, virtual DEXs that can query prices from the deepest liquidity pools, shadow NFTs that verify ownership across chains, and cross-chain authentication solutions.

For ABC Stack chains looking to establish connections with multiple ecosystems, LayerZero provides a comprehensive framework that balances security, flexibility, and universal composability while maintaining sovereignty over security parameters. Developers building on ABC Stack can integrate with LayerZero without compromising on their architectural principles or security requirements.

Beyond its technical capabilities, LayerZero's wide ecosystem adoption means that ABC Stack builders can immediately tap into existing liquidity pools and user bases across dozens of blockchains. LayerZero's architecture supports communication between diverse blockchain ecosystems with different technical foundations. Ready-made standards like OFT (Omnichain Fungible Token) and ONFT (Omnichain Non-Fungible Token) simplify the implementation of cross-chain assets.

LayerZero vs. Axelar vs. Wormhole: Which is the best blockchain bridge?

Rather than viewing bridge protocols as mutually exclusive, ABC Stack builders can adopt a multi-bridge approach and leverage different solutions for different aspects of their cross-chain architecture suited to the requirements of different applications. Just as modern web applications might use different databases for different types of data (relational for structured data, document stores for flexible schemas, graph databases for connected data), blockchain applications can benefit from using different messaging solutions for different requirements.

LayerZero’s modular philosophy lines up with the capabilities of ABC Stack’s Rollup L1s to open up new possibilities for building advanced DeFi applications, cross-chain gaming experiences, and interoperable NFT ecosystems that can scale to meet growing demand.

Kraken's Ink: Leading the Exchange-Backed L2 Revolution

In December 2024, Kraken's Layer 2 blockchain Ink launched on mainnet, supported by Gelato RaaS. Built on Optimism's OP Stack, Ink is the first major Western exchange-backed L2 focused exclusively on DeFi. Ink integrated with LayerZero to provide users with cross-chain capabilities from day one. Within its first week, Ink accumulated over 1 million transactions, which shows strong support for the chain’s low fees, 1-second block times and high degree of interoperability.

This integration allows Ink users to bridge assets between Ink and the other chains in LayerZero's growing ecosystem, providing immediate access to liquidity across the broader crypto landscape. Ink also became one of the first chains to list and support LayerZero’s ZRO token directly through Kraken Exchange to provide a seamless on-ramp for users. The power of this integration has been demonstrated by impressive transaction capabilities, with recent examples showing transfers as large as $80 million being completed in just about two minutes with a fee of only $5.

The rapid adoption of Ink demonstrates how new Layer 2 solutions are leveraging LayerZero to avoid ecosystem lock-in and provide users with access to the broader multi-chain environment from launch. This strategy allows new chains to bootstrap liquidity and utility immediately rather than starting as isolated ecosystems.

Why major crypto projects are adopting LayerZero's OFT standard

LayerZero has achieved substantial adoption from its Omnichain Fungible Token (OFT) standard serving as a universal token standard that works across chains. This makes LayerZero essential infrastructure for ensuring liquidity with tokens that "just work" regardless of the underlying chain. The protocol has facilitated over 145M omnichain messages and transferred more than $50 billion in value across 128 supported chains since 2021, establishing it as the most adopted interoperability protocol today.

In January 2025, Tether partnered with LayerZero to launch USDT0, a multichain version of USDT using the OFT standard. Deployed on Ink, with plans to expand to Berachain and MegaETH, this partnership leverages Tether's dominant position ($141 billion supply) to boost OFT adoption as the stablecoin expands its presence across more blockchains.

Just prior to this, PayPal's stablecoin integrated LayerZero's OFT Standard to enable transfers between Ethereum and Solana. This partnership provides a major crypto onramp for general users and activity from traditional finance to the protocol, with PayPal implementing a robust security stack including Paxos, Google Cloud, and LayerZero Labs as verifiers.

In December 2024, Ethena Labs launched USDtb, a stablecoin backed by BlackRock's BUIDL Fund in partnership with Securitize, built entirely on LayerZero's OFT Standard. As a day-one OFT, USDtb enables cross-chain transfers between Ethereum mainnet, Base, Solana, and Arbitrum, with bridging capabilities through Stargate. The stablecoin also serves as a backing asset for Ethena's primary USDe product, which along with sUSDe and ENA are also implemented as OFTs, demonstrating how the standard creates an interconnected ecosystem of financial products across multiple chains.

In September 2024, BitGo selected LayerZero to expand WBTC to BNB Chain and Avalanche. With $8.7 billion worth of WBTC issued on Ethereum alone, this integration allowed WBTC to be natively minted on additional chains without introducing bridge risks, using a 1-of-2-of-3 DVN configuration for security.

When Ondo Finance deployed its yield-bearing US Treasuries token (USDY) across Ethereum, Mantle, and Arbitrum, they chose to leverage LayerZero's OFT standard. This implementation brought institutional-grade assets to the omnichain, with Ondo employing a "Multi-Message Aggregation" system across multiple DVNs.

LayerZero's success at establishing its Omnichain Fungible Token standard as the definitive cross-chain token standard has created network effects—as more projects adopt OFTs, the standard becomes increasingly valuable, driving further adoption.

The OFT standard solves fragmented liquidity issues by maintaining unified token supply across chains without wrapping or using middlechains by burning tokens on the source chain and minting on the destination.

How to enable omnichain token transfers with LayerZero: Stargate Finance

Stargate Finance shows LayerZero’scapabilities while providing essential cross-chain liquidity infrastructure, with over $1.3 billion in TVL spread across more than 35 chains.

Recently upgraded to V2 to leverage LayerZero's latest protocol version, Stargate provides cost-reducing measures like transaction batching that groups transfers into "buses" rather than individual "taxis". The protocol maintains competitiveness through flexible fees that adapt to market conditions and by providing support for major assets including USDC, USDT, and WETH with optimized cross-chain transfers.

Stargate serves both as a reference implementation and as one of the highest-volume users of the LayerZero protocol.

LayerZero has established itself as the dominant interoperability solution by securing strategic partnerships across the crypto ecosystem and continuously expanding its network reach.

The protocol's significance is underscored by Tether's USDT transfer volume, which exceeded $10.5 trillion in the past year alone. As Tether brings its $141 billion market supply to the OFT standard through USDT0, this represents a tremendous validation of LayerZero's cross-chain messaging.

On the institutional front, Ondo Finance's implementation demonstrates how traditional finance can leverage LayerZero's security features, notably Multi-Message Aggregation, which combines verifications from multiple sources—including a ZK prover (Polyhedra), a POS blockchain (Axelar), and LayerZero Labs' DVN—setting a new standard for institutional-grade security in cross-chain transfers.

LayerZero continues to expand its connectivity with recent additions including TON, Solana, and partnerships with Cosmos-based chains through Initia Labs. With each new integration, the network effect strengthens, making the OFT standard increasingly valuable as it spans a wider range of blockchain environments. This growing ecosystem positions LayerZero as essential infrastructure for the multi-chain future.

Ready to deploy your own chain? Join the growing ecosystem of projects already benefiting from this integration:

• Ink, Kraken's DeFi-focused L2, provides users with a trusted onramp between crypto exchange and DeFi to unlock seamless cross-chain opportunities

• OpenCampus, the on-chain education network, uses LayerZero on their Gelato RaaS chain to create educational experiences across multiple blockchains

• Lisk, a full-stack innovation ecosystem enabling JavaScript developers to build decentralized applications, has integrated LayerZero on their Gelato-powered chain

• Re.al, the permissionless L2 for tokenized real-world assets, leverages LayerZero through Gelato RaaS to connect traditional assets with DeFi across the omnichain

Whether you're building a DeFi protocol that needs access to liquidity across multiple chains, a gaming platform that requires cross-chain asset transfers, or an RWA project looking to tap into broader markets, deploying on Gelato RaaS with LayerZero support gives you the infrastructure and support you need to succeed on your own terms.

Visit gelato.network/raas today to deploy your custom chain with LayerZero integration and join the omnichain revolution.