LayerZero has unveiled ATLAS, a high-speed exchange backend designed to handle matching, clearing, settlement and risk within a single stack for crypto-native and institutional markets. Built
LayerZero has unveiled ATLAS, a high-speed exchange backend designed to handle matching, clearing, settlement and risk within a single stack for crypto-native and institutional markets.
Built on LayerZero’s Zero blockchain, ATLAS is designed as a headless exchange with no consumer-facing trading app of its own. Exchanges and trading platforms connect their interfaces to the underlying infrastructure while retaining control over distribution and the user experience.
ATLAS is initially provisioned for 200,000 transactions per second and recorded median latency below one millisecond in an environment designed to mirror public deployment. LayerZero measured median latency at 965 microseconds, with p95 and p99 latency at 1.418 milliseconds and 2.641 milliseconds respectively.
Open ATLAS will support crypto-native trading applications covering spot markets, perpetuals, prediction markets and other permissionless products. Initial partners include GTE, Bullish, Defined and TrueNorth, with GTE preparing to provide ATLAS trading access from launch.
Institutional ATLAS uses the same underlying engine but lets regulated venues determine their own market rules and access requirements. Matching, clearing, settlement and risk remain integrated within the stack, while Zero provides the blockchain settlement layer.
The architecture extends LayerZero further into trading infrastructure after its interoperability technology powered the movement of Ondo tokenized stocks onto Hyperliquid’s HyperEVM earlier this year. That integration enabled tokenized spot equity exposure to sit alongside perpetual positions for basis trades and delta-neutral strategies.
Zero itself was introduced in February with Citadel Securities, DTCC and Intercontinental Exchange involved around market structure, tokenization and infrastructure development.
ATLAS charges a single trading fee and returns between 20% and 65% to Open ATLAS venues through a tiered rebate system based on trading volume and ZRO staking.
After the venue rebate, 25% of remaining fees go to the market creator and 75% are used to buy and burn ZRO. Trading venues can stake progressively larger amounts of ZRO for higher rebate tiers, reaching as much as 1% of total ZRO supply at the highest level.
ZRO will also secure the Zero blockchain through delegated proof of stake, function as its gas asset and participate in governance over protocol upgrades and new Zones.
The ATLAS announcement pushed ZRO sharply higher on Tuesday, with the token reaching an intraday high near $1.34before trading around $1.18 early Wednesday. ZRO closed August 25 roughly 10% higher after trading between $1.04 and $1.34 during the session.
ATLAS is arriving as stablecoins and tokenized assets push increasingly large financial flows onto public blockchains. Stablecoin supply has expanded from roughly $5 billion in 2020 to around $320 billion, while tokenized real-world assets reached a record $33 billion during the second quarter.
LayerZero’s Omnichain Fungible Token infrastructure has already processed about $290 billion across more than 160 chains, including stablecoins and tokenized securities.
Traditional market infrastructure operates at a much larger scale. DTCC processed $4.7 quadrillion in securities transactions during 2025 while providing custody and asset servicing for $114 trillion.
Onchain derivatives are also expanding rapidly, with Hyperliquid recently reaching $11 billion in open interest, including $3.6 billion tied to real-world asset perpetuals.
ATLAS is scheduled to launch later in 2026, with Open ATLAS venues connecting directly to the Zero-based matching and settlement infrastructure.
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