Ink taps Optimism managed infrastructure in multi-year OP Enterprise deal

Ink, a Kraken-incubated Ethereum Layer 2 (scaling network), is handing production infrastructure operations to Optimism under a multi-year agreement tied to OP Enterprise Fully Managed. The shift will leave the Ink Foundation focused on ecosystem expansion and new financial products, while Optimism takes over day-to-day network operations. The companies described the arrangement as one of the first cases of a major Layer 2 outsourcing infrastructure management to a dedicated provider. Ink, which launched in December 2024, said it processed more than 1 million transactions in its first 24 hours on mainnet and that applications on the network are now generating close to $40 million in annual revenue. Ink will also act as a design partner for OP Enterprise, Optimism's offering for institutions and exchanges building onchain financial products. The roadmap includes programmable block building, one-day withdrawals to Ethereum, and sequencer-level compliance tooling (controls built into transaction ordering), alongside targets of 400 megagas per second in guaranteed throughput and block times as low as 100 milliseconds by the end of 2026. Optimism CEO Jing Wang said institutions increasingly need programmable financial infrastructure but not necessarily the expertise to operate it, while Ink Foundation Head of Strategy Zach Le said running a blockchain in production is a "unique operational challenge." The move follows Bitpanda's Vision Chain becoming the first network launched on OP Enterprise Fully Managed earlier this year. It also comes as activity across major optimistic rollups (Layer 2 networks that bundle transactions) has retreated from 2025 highs, with active addresses falling from nearly 3 million a year ago to under 600,000 in recent weeks, according to The Block's data dashboard.