Several U.S. regional banks are developing Cari Network, a tokenized deposit platform built on ZKsync (a layer 2 network), as lenders seek a regulated path to modernize digital payments.
The network announced Tuesday that it is being developed with banks including Huntington Bancshares, First Horizon, M&T Bank, KeyCorp and Old National Bancorp. The network is designed to allow banks to convert customer deposits into digital tokens that can be transferred instantly between institutions without the funds ever leaving the banking system.
This is a key difference from stablecoins, which are typically issued by non-bank companies. Cari said its tokens will still represent regular bank deposits, meaning they remain on banks’ balance sheets and remain subject to existing regulations and FDIC insurance.
Behind the scenes, the system will run on “Prividium,” a private permissioned blockchain built by Matter Labs (the main development company building the ZKsync network). Only approved participants (such as banks) can use it, and transactions are designed to be fast and private while still allowing regulators to audit activity if needed.
The effort reflects banks’ growing efforts to compete with crypto-native payment systems by offering similar speeds and round-the-clock settlement, but within familiar regulatory boundaries.
According to a blog post, the Alliance of Midsize Banks in the United States supports the project, emphasizing regional lenders’ interest in upgrading payments infrastructure without risking deposits being lost to new digital alternatives.
The Cari network will launch more broadly in 2026, with participating banks testing how these tokenized deposits are created, transferred between parties and converted back to regular dollars.
“Banks should be leading the next phase of digital currencies, not reacting to it,” said Cari CEO Gene Ludwig.
Matter Labs CEO Alex Gluchowski added that the project demonstrates how banks can use blockchain technology while still meeting privacy and compliance requirements.
“Financial infrastructure is undergoing the same transformation that computing did decades ago, from siled databases to shared programmable infrastructure,” Gruchowski said in a blog post. “With Prividium, banks can issue and transfer deposits on blockchain infrastructure while retaining the privacy, compliance and control required by regulated institutions.”
Read more: Deutsche Bank’s L2 blockchain will be ‘public and permissioned’, technology partners say
