Wall Street Is Moving Past Speculation And Into Infrastructure — And ZKsync’s Alex Gluchowski Built Exactly What It Needs

Stablecoins are eating banking. Faster, cheaper, and available around the clock, they are pulling deposits and cross-border payment flows away from traditional lenders — threatening the core business model banks have operated for decades. The question is no longer whether banks need to respond, but how.

Alex Gluchowski, co-founder and CEO of Matter Labs, thinks he has the answer — and in the past month alone, two of the most important deals in institutional crypto history have begun to validate it. ZKsync‘s Prividium infrastructure now underpins Cari Network, a bank-governed tokenised deposit network backed by five major US regional banks, and a new joint stack with BitGo designed to bring tokenised deposits to hundreds of millions of banking customers.

The technology at the centre of it all is zero-knowledge cryptography — a branch of mathematics that allows financial institutions to transact on a shared, Ethereum-secured network without ever exposing their data to competitors, regulators, or the public. We spoke with the expert about why this moment is arriving now, what separates tokenised deposits from stablecoins, and why he believes Ethereum — not a privately governed consortium chain — is the only infrastructure the global financial system can agree to build on.

The Ethereum Foundation’s renewed vision calls on L2s to differentiate and specialise, not just scale.  How does ZKsync align with this? What is its role in the ecosystem?

L2s will shift from raw scaling toward specialisation, stronger guarantees, and institutional usability, with conscious tradeoffs around control to meet regulatory requirements. ZKsync’s roadmap has consistently treated Ethereum L1 as the settlement layer, with deep native interoperability, rather than isolated rollups or siloed liquidity. This aligns directly with the Ethereum Foundation’s emphasis on maximum interoperability and underpins our work in building a specialised financial execution layer for Ethereum. We call this “The Bank Stack of Ethereum.”

ZKsync is a network of chains. Yet you say Prividiums are coming, and that they will become a much larger part of the network than they are today. Why?

ZKsync’s Prividiums establish privacy-specialised L2s as an important direction for the ecosystem, enabling banks, governments, and financial institutions to operate on Ethereum rails without sacrificing confidentiality, control, or compliance.

How are privacy and interoperability critical for crypto adoption? Why do institutions have different requirements than ordinary users?

For ordinary retail traders, privacy is largely a preference. For financial institutions, it is a regulatory and fiduciary obligation. Banks, governments, and enterprises cannot operate on infrastructure where counterparties, competitors, or the public can see their transaction flows, balances, and client activity in real time.

Why is a fully permissionless network like Ethereum ultimately the right settlement layer for institutional finance, rather than a privately governed alternative?

Privately governed chains recreate the same siloed infrastructure institutions are trying to move away from, fragmenting liquidity and concentrating control in a single operator. Ethereum offers neutral, credibly decentralised infrastructure with the deep liquidity, security, and longevity institutions need in a settlement layer they can trust over decades. The challenge has always been that full public transparency is incompatible with real-world finance, while old privacy models that relied on obfuscation and mixers faced regulatory issues. Zero-knowledge technology changes this entirely, allowing financial institutions to protect sensitive information while preserving the accountability that regulators require. Prividium is our way of doing so — allowing banks and institutions to operate in compliant, permissioned environments with full confidentiality, with every transaction cryptographically anchored to Ethereum via ZK proofs.

Banks are increasingly moving into tokenisation and the blockchain space. How does ZKsync help them make that transition?

ZKsync’s Prividiums give banks institutional-grade blockchain infrastructure to issue and move tokenised deposits while preserving the compliance, privacy, and oversight that define the regulated system. Customer identities and sensitive data stay in banks’ core systems, while each institution’s activity is walled off from other participants — with scoped, tamper-proof audit access for regulators when needed. Through ZKsync’s private interop, Prividiums connect into one large network, enabling seamless 24/7 movement of both tokenised deposits and stablecoins across institutions. The result is that banks no longer have to choose between tokenised deposits and stablecoins — they can offer both, protecting and growing deposits while scaling responsibly on Ethereum rails.

Why are banks rushing into tokenised deposits right now? What problem does it solve for them?

Stablecoin issuers are building faster, cheaper payment rails that pull deposits and cross-border flows away from banks, threatening their core business model. As the digital asset landscape heats up, tokenised deposits give banks a way to compete on-chain — matching stablecoin speed without surrendering deposits off their balance sheets.

What is the difference between tokenised deposits and stablecoins?

Tokenised deposits are digital representations of bank deposits issued directly by regulated banks. They are FDIC-insured, carry favourable balance sheet treatment, and can be used to grow loans. Stablecoins, by contrast, are typically issued by non-bank entities and are optimised for 24/7 global payments, but sit outside the traditional deposit system. The two are complementary rather than competitive: tokenised deposits anchor money within the regulated banking system, while stablecoins enable frictionless movement across borders and platforms.

How does your partnership with BitGo help boost the adoption of tokenised deposits?

Our partnership with BitGo brings tokenised deposits to banks by combining custody, settlement, and privacy-preserving infrastructure into a unified stack. Using BitGo’s institutional-grade custody and wallet infrastructure alongside ZKsync’s privacy-preserving technology, we are enabling financial institutions to offer hundreds of millions of customers access to tokenised deposits — with a secure and compliant foundation to issue, transfer, and settle them, while preserving customer protections, regulatory oversight, and operational control. The joint infrastructure is being tested with regulated financial institutions and is progressing toward broader production deployment by the end of the year.

You recently partnered with Cari Network to build a bank-governed tokenised deposit network. Why is this important right now?

Financial infrastructure is undergoing the same shift computing went through decades ago — moving from siloed databases to shared, programmable infrastructure. As stablecoins gain traction and the GENIUS Act advances, mid-sized banks risk being sidelined in payments and small business lending as non-banks move to issue digital money. Cari and ZKsync’s Prividium network give mid-sized banks a way to lead that transition rather than be displaced by it — enabling them to issue and move deposits on institutional-grade blockchain infrastructure that preserves the compliance, privacy, and oversight of the regulated system.

The Cari Network brings multiple banks onto a single blockchain simultaneously. Why is that multi-bank structure so important?

Each bank’s data is walled off from other participants, with scoped access for regulators when needed — allowing institutions to get the benefits of shared infrastructure without compromising confidentiality or compliance. The multi-bank structure enables automatic clearing of tokenised deposits and stablecoins between institutions, allowing money to move freely 24/7 without the friction of traditional correspondent banking. As more banks join, the network effect compounds: more liquidity, more clearing routes, and a stronger case for tokenised deposits as the backbone of modern banking.

How do you see the broader entry of Wall Street into crypto evolving?

Wall Street’s entry into crypto is moving past speculation and into infrastructure. As tokenised deposits and stablecoins emerge as complementary pillars of a modernised financial system, banks will increasingly use tokenised deposits as the payment rail for moving money in and out of their private infrastructure, while stablecoins serve as the connective tissue for global, 24/7 settlement. We are already seeing demand from banks for tokenised deposits alongside automatic clearing against other banks’ deposits and stablecoins. Coupled with ZKsync’s private interop and clearing infrastructure, institutions can now move money freely and globally — protecting and growing deposits while fully participating in the stablecoin economy.

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