- Cari Network, led by former US Comptroller Gene Ludwig, has selected ZKsync’s Prividium to build a private, bank-governed ledger for tokenized deposits.
- Five major US mid-sized banks are involved in designing the network, aiming to offer stablecoin-like payments while keeping deposits as bank liabilities.
- The platform is built on ZKsync and anchored to Ethereum, focusing on privacy, regulatory compliance, and instant settlement for participating institutions.
- This move comes as stablecoins challenge traditional banking and as US lawmakers debate cryptocurrency legislation like the GENIUS Act.
A consortium of US regional banks, led by former Comptroller of the Currency Gene Ludwig, is launching a private network for tokenized deposits using Matter Labs‘ Prividium infrastructure. The platform, built on ZKsync and anchored to Ethereum, was announced in a Tuesday release and is designed to let banks issue and transfer tokenized deposits around the clock.
Five US banks—Huntington Bancshares, First Horizon, M&T Bank, KeyCorp, and Old National Bancorp—have been designing and testing the network since February, according to a Bloomberg report. The Mid-Size Bank Coalition of America has endorsed the model to keep deposits within regulated institutions.
ZKsync CEO Alex Gluchowski framed the network as a critical tool for banks to lead the financial transition. “Financial infrastructure is being redesigned in real time, and mid-sized banks are the ones being left behind,” he told Cointelegraph.
The Prividium ledger enables instant settlement while keeping personal data within each bank’s core systems. This architecture meets US banking privacy and supervisory expectations for audit trails.
Consequently, the tokens represent existing deposits and remain within a permissioned environment governed by bank compliance frameworks. Gluchowski argued tokenized deposits “are complementary to stablecoins” for moving money in and out of private bank infrastructure.
Meanwhile, ZKsync’s public network usage has declined sharply in the past year as airdrop-driven activity cooled. The company’s 2026 roadmap, however, focuses on institutional use cases requiring privacy and control exactly like the Cari Network project.
✅ Follow BITNEWSBOT on Telegram, Facebook, LinkedIn, X.com, and Google News for instant updates.
