US Regional Banks Enter Tokenized Deposit Arena Through Cari's ZKsync Prividium Partnership
In a move to compete with stablecoin providers, Cari Network has selected ZKsync's Prividium infrastructure to develop a bank-controlled tokenized deposit system, enabling American regional banks to offer blockchain-based payment capabilities.
A permissioned banking network known as Cari Network, spearheaded by Gene Ludwig, the former Comptroller of the Currency for the United States, has selected Matter Labs' Prividium technology stack to establish a tokenized deposit platform controlled by banks and tailored for regional and mid-sized financial institutions across America.
The infrastructure, which leverages ZKsync technology and is secured to the Ethereum blockchain, enables member banks to create and transfer tokenized deposits continuously throughout the day and night, while maintaining these digital assets as liabilities on their own balance sheets, as stated in a Tuesday announcement provided to Cointelegraph.
This development arrives amid ongoing legislative discussions surrounding regulatory structures like the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act, while stablecoin providers increasingly challenge traditional banks' dominance in the payments sector and deposit-based funding mechanisms.
Financial infrastructure is being redesigned in real time, and mid-sized banks are the ones being left behind,
Alex Gluchowski, CEO of ZKsync, explained to Cointelegraph, positioning the platform as an instrument enabling banks to "lead that transition, rather than be displaced by it."
Regional banks seek tokenized deposits for stablecoin-style payments
A group of five American financial institutions—Huntington Bancshares, First Horizon, M&T Bank, KeyCorp and Old National Bancorp—have participated in the network's design phase and testing procedures since February, as reported by Bloomberg.
The announcement indicates that the Mid-Size Bank Coalition of America has endorsed this broader framework, maintaining that preserving deposits within regulated banking entities is essential for supporting small business lending activities and strengthening local economic ecosystems.
The digital tokens issued by Cari serve as representations of actual customer deposits held at member banks and are designed to operate exclusively within a permissioned ecosystem regulated by banking risk management and compliance protocols, as opposed to being distributed openly across decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms.
Prividium targets privacy, control and onchain auditability
Based on information from ZKsync, Prividium functions as the common ledger infrastructure, facilitating immediate settlement among authenticated participants while maintaining separation between transaction data and account balances from personally identifiable information, which remains housed within each institution's core banking systems.
The public ZKsync network has faced challenges maintaining consistent user activity over the previous twelve months. Blockchain analytics from Nansen revealed that ZKsync experienced one of the most dramatic decreases among leading blockchain platforms in 2025, with transaction volumes dropping approximately 90% following the conclusion of airdrop-incentivized engagement.
Simultaneously, ZKsync has been actively redirecting its development priorities toward precisely the institutional application that Cari exemplifies. The company's 2026 strategic roadmap emphasizes privacy features, deterministic governance and native cross-chain compatibility as essential requirements for attracting banks, corporate enterprises and governmental entities.
Gluchowski indicated that the technical framework was constructed specifically to align with United States banking privacy standards and regulatory oversight requirements, encompassing data security measures, regulatory examiner accessibility and tamper-resistant audit documentation.
Although certain financial institutions have investigated issuing their own stablecoins or forming strategic alliances with stablecoin providers, Gluchowski maintains that tokenized deposits "are complementary to stablecoins," further stating that ZKsync envisions deposits functioning as "the payment tokens by banks when money needs to move in and out" of their proprietary infrastructure systems.