Cari Network has picked ZKsync’s enterprise solution Prividium to power a bank-governed, tokenized deposit network that its backers say will let regional U.S. banks move insured deposits instantly while keeping those funds inside the regulated banking system. Cari Network announced the selection on March 16, 2026, positioning the ZK-based, permissioned platform as the technical backbone for a payments system built with participating regional banks and designed for production rollout later in 2026.
The move follows weeks of public discussion about the Cari project after five design-partner banks agreed to collaborate on a tokenized-deposit network that preserves deposits as regulated bank liabilities while enabling 24/7 programmable settlement. The consortium includes Huntington Bancshares Inc., First Horizon Corp., M&T Bank Corp., KeyCorp and Old National Bancorp, which media reports say will test an MVP in the spring and begin broader pilots in the third quarter ahead of a customer rollout targeted for Q4. Industry coverage of the initiative has emphasized that the tokens will mirror conventional deposits and remain eligible for FDIC insurance under participating banks’ balance sheets.
Bank-Governed Digital Cash
Prividium is being touted by developers as a privacy-preserving, institution-grade layer-2 that lets verified counterparties transact on a permissioned ledger while anchoring validity proofs to Ethereum. In other words, banks can have private, auditable settlement rails that still interoperate with public blockchain standards. The ZKsync documentation and product page describe Prividium as a turnkey option for organizations that need user-level privacy, compliance controls and Ethereum-grade security. Cari’s team says that architecture allows banks to move tokenized deposits instantly, with full regulatory auditability and the ability to redeem tokens back into U.S. dollars on demand.
The announcement also won a notable industry endorsement. The Mid-Size Bank Coalition of America signaled support for approaches that let mid-size banks modernize payments without surrendering deposit custody or the supervisory framework that underpins U.S. community lending. “Mid-size banks’ deposits directly support small-business lending and community growth,” MBCA leadership said, arguing that innovation should strengthen, not disintermediate, the regulated banking system. Cari’s founders and bank partners stress that keeping deposits on bank balance sheets preserves the funding that underwrites Main Street credit.
Cari’s founder, former U.S. Comptroller of the Currency Gene Ludwig, framed the effort as a deliberate attempt to let banks lead the next phase of digital money from inside the safety rails of regulation. Matter Labs’ chief executive, Alex Gluchowski, described Prividium as the kind of shared, programmable infrastructure banks need to issue and move deposits on-chain while preserving privacy and institutional controls. Both executives emphasized that the initiative is intended to be incremental and interoperable, not a replacement for traditional banking, but a modernization of settlement and liquidity management.
Analysts say the Cari-Prividium partnership is significant because it signals that regional banks are not waiting for external stablecoin issuers or centralized fintechs to define how dollar-denominated digital settlement will work. Instead, the industry’s instinct is to build a regulated alternative that preserves deposit insurance and bank oversight while delivering the speed and programmability users increasingly expect. If the pilots run as planned, the project could become a template for other banks seeking to combine safety, speed and on-chain interoperability in the years ahead.
