Whitechain, W Group’s native blockchain, is now an Ethereum Layer 2 on the OP Stack. It started as a standalone Layer 1. Whitechain runs its own chain under OP Enterprise Self-Managed, with Mission Critical support from The Optimism Foundation and technical support from the Optimism Foundation’s subcontractor, OP Labs.
Who this is for and why it matters
Whitechain is built for institutional and B2B finance, and for the builders who work with it: issuers of tokenized real-world assets, exchanges, banks, payment providers and fintechs, plus the infrastructure and oracle providers behind them. For a standalone Layer 1, serving that group has meant adapting every wallet, tool and integration to the chain one at a time, and builders tend to go where the tooling and users already are.
“Our goal is for Whitechain to be the new economic layer where finance runs, with builders driving it and institutions building on it. Moving to the OP Stack puts us on the tooling builders already use and a standard institutions already trust. It lets our team focus on the products we build and the partners we bring.”
What changed
Whitechain has moved from its own Layer 1 to an Ethereum Layer 2 built on the OP Stack. In practice that means:
- Standard Ethereum tooling. Builders use the wallets, libraries and developer tools they already know.
- Continuity. According to Whitechain, the migration carried its existing state across. Chain ID 1875, balances, contracts and addresses are unchanged, and WBT remains the gas token.
- Control stays with Whitechain. Under OP Enterprise Self-Managed, Whitechain operates its own chain, keeps control of its configuration, and will coordinate its public repositories and configuration files.
- Direct engineering access. Whitechain works directly with OP Stack engineering from The Optimism Foundation and OP Labs, with Mission Critical support.
Who runs it
The Whitechain team already runs the infrastructure behind the chain, so the team that runs the chain is the one that moved it.
Whitechain is W Group’s native blockchain, and W Group serves more than 40 million customers globally across WhiteBIT, Whitepay, white.market and Whitewallet.
According to Whitechain, it works with independent auditors on a continuing basis, ran an internal security audit during deployment, and requires an audit for every protocol its team deploys on the network.
“Exchange groups bring institutional relationships and financial partners. The OP Stack brings Ethereum's builders, tooling and standards. Whitechain puts the two together, and that points to more finance being built on Ethereum's standards instead of beside them.”
The OP Stack is open-source and MIT-licensed. More than 50 production chains run on it. Whitechain joins a growing group of exchange-backed chains building on the stack.
Get started
Developer Mainnet is live for builders and partners, with the full public launch planned for later in November. Here is where to start.
- Explore the chain: explorer.whitechain.io
- Read the docs: docs.whitechain.io
- Get testnet funds: faucet.testnet.whitechain.io
- Apply to the Whitechain Builders Program
- Partners and B2B teams, use the contact form
- Learn about OP Enterprise
Whitechain is a third-party network that is not owned or controlled by the Optimism Foundation. This announcement is for informational purposes only, and is not an endorsement or a solicitation to invest your own capital. Technical support provided under OP Enterprise does not constitute a security audit or endorsement of the Whitechain network. Participation in digital asset protocols is risky - please conduct your own careful due diligence before use.
Authored by
Optimism