LayerZero Adds Cathie Wood, TradFi Leaders to Advisory Board After Tether Investment

LayerZero:- The blockchain infrastructure company LayerZero Labs is rapidly gaining prominence across Web3 circles following its strategic investment from stablecoin giant Tether.

Building on the momentum from Tether’s backing, LayerZero has now announced its high-profile advisory board. The board, having key names, brings together senior leaders from both crypto-native firms and traditional financial institutions.

Who is there in LayerZero’s Advisory Board

The most notable addition that LayerZero labs has made is Cathie Wood, CEO and CIO of ARK Invest, who said, “After getting to know the LayerZero team and what they’ve been building over the past year, I couldn’t think of a better opportunity to join an advisory board for the first time in a long time”.

LayerZero said Wood will advise the company on long-term strategy as it builds infrastructure aimed at supporting global capital markets onchain.

Beyond Wood, the advisory board includes figures with deep experience in legacy financial infrastructure. These include Michael Blaugrund, Vice President of Strategic Initiatives at Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), and Caroline Butler, former Head of Digital Assets at BNY Mellon.

According to LayerZero, these advisors will help guide the firm to become a core player in institutional onchain finance. That matters as the blockchain infrastructure firm, previously best known for its cross-chain interoperability protocol, is now working to woe Tradfi players and bring institiutional-grade capacity.

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LayerZero’s New Blockchain

The advisory appointments closely align with LayerZero’s recent launch of Zero, a new blockchain network which it calls as the “first multi-core world computer”.

Using ZK-proofs and high scaling power of 2 million, LayerZero aims to use its new blockchain to support institutional-grade tokenization, settlement, and cross-chain communication. The company has positioned Zero as a foundational layer capable of connecting fragmented liquidity across public and private networks.

This is all while maintaining the performance, compliance, and security standards expected by traditional market participants.

Further, LayerZero’s growing institutional profile is closely tied to its relationship with Tether, which extends beyond just capital investment. LayerZero’s interoperability protocol powers USDT0, the omnichain version of Tether’s USDT stablecoin. Built using LayerZero’s Omnichain Fungible Token (OFT) standard, USDT0 enables USDT to move across blockchains where it is not natively issued, without relying on traditional wrapped-asset bridges.

Also Read: Who’s Challenging Tether in Tokenized Gold?

Since launching in early 2025, USDT0 has processed more than $70 billion in cross-chain value transfers, according to Tether.

Following the deployment of USDT0, Tether Investments made a strategic investment in LayerZero Labs. Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino has described LayerZero’s technology as a foundational utility for the future of digital finance.

Founded in 2021 by Bryan Pellegrino, Ryan Zarick, and Caleb Banister, LayerZero Labs is now aiming to function as core infrastructure for global payments, onchain markets, and financial automation.