Metaversal

How to Get Started on Ink

Check out this list of starter resources for trying out Kraken's Ink L2.

Jun 17, 2025 • 2 min read

Developed by Kraken and launched in Dec. 2024, Ink is an Ethereum L2, specifically an optimistic rollup, built on Optimism's OP Stack tech.

With gas costs far under $0.01 per transaction, the chain is designed to be a DeFi hub in Optimism's Superchain ecosystem.

Today, the network's notably a top 20 L2 when it comes to total value secured (TVS) and a top 10 L2 when it comes to its stablecoin market cap of $74M.

All that said, it's an interesting time to zoom in here with the initial $INK airdrop plans freshly unveiled and the prospect of "other potential airdrops" later.

But what if you're less of a DeFi wiz and more of an onchain culture adventurer like me? Read on, as I've put together a starter pack of resources you can use to dive into Ink as a beginner.

ℹ️ General resources

Ink Explorer — An Ink block explorer via Blockscout, good for analyzing addresses and transactions on the L2
ChainList — A nifty tool you can use to add Ink to your EVM wallet, e.g. MetaMask, Rainbow, Rabby, etc.
Ink Docs — The official documentation of the L2, refer here for technical questions or if you want to build apps on Ink

📊 Analytics

L2BEAT — A dashboard and info hub that provides a bird's-eye view of Ink's current activity levels and technical intricacies
growthepie — Another great L2 analytics platform that tracks Ink's fundamental metrics, like active addresses and throughput
Dune — A custom overview dashboard by the Ink team

🌉 Bridges

Ink Bridge — The official bridge you'll find on the Ink website, powered by my fav bridging tech Relay
Bungee — A good bridge for crosschain swaps, e.g. if you want to move USDC on Ethereum directly into WETH on Ink
Gas.zip — Another crosschain swaps bridge, it also lets you deposit funds from one chain into multiple other L2s simultaneously

🪙 DeFi

Velodrome — A popular decentralized exchange that supports Ink, it's always there if you want to swap into any of the larger tokens on the network
Safe — If you find yourself amassing coins and NFTs on Ink and want to secure them, you can use Safe to launch a multisig vault on the L2
holyheld — A crypto-powered Mastercard debit card that supports Ink assets and onramping to, and offramping from, the network
InkyPump — A memecoin launchpad platform in the vein of pump.fun that you can use to create and speculate on coins
InkySwap — The DEX that InkyPump tokens graduate to

🎉 Culture

3DNS — An onchain web domain registrar that's working on an ENS-style namespace, ids.ink, for the L2
GM — A daily check-in platform where you can achieve streaks for submitting onchain good mornings
Layer3 — A web3 education platform that offers a dedicated Ink quests hub
NFTs2Me — A no-code NFT deployer platform where you can create customizable mint pages for DIY collections
Shroomy — A lending market that offers an interesting NFT locking tool
ZNS Connect — A decentralized ID platform offering its own take on .ink domains

And that's it, these resources should be everything you need to get started with Ink. You can also keep an eye on the Ink Apps hub to track new projects as they launch on the L2. Happy exploring!

Not financial or tax advice. This newsletter is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. This newsletter is not tax advice. Talk to your accountant. Do your own research.

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