An Ethereum-based layer 2 scaling solution ZKsync plans to move beyond its current reputation of memes and hype to an approach helping banks and enterprises use blockchain in a private, secure, and practical way; that is, to build real-world use cases in 2026, using the foundation it built last year.
“Imagine a financial system where cross-border payments settle in seconds, where liquidity moves without friction, and where sensitive data stays private, yet regulators retain the visibility they need. This is no longer theoretical. ZKsync Prividiums make it possible today,” the official document introduced their vision.
Matter Labs co-founder and CEO Alex Gluchowski explained a roadmap on X that shows institutional adoption.
“We made a deliberate decision to build for real-world constraints rather than industry shortcuts,” Gluchowski wrote. “They form the foundation of Incorruptible Financial Infrastructure, where trust is anchored in cryptography rather than human operators or intermediaries.”
Core pillar of roadmap: Prividium
Prividium is described as a highly advanced, privacy-focused blockchain that works well with Ethereum.
“Building on this foundation, 2026 is about making privacy the default starting point for enterprise applications,” Gluchowski stated, as he explains the shift from technical capability to making private execution ideal in real use cases. This means integrating privacy into blockchain apps without breaking anything they already rely on.
Explained real-world use cases
- Cross-border payments that rely on banking networks involving middlemen making transfers are slow, expensive, and difficult to track. Prividium helps in eliminating this issue while settling transactions almost immediately while also protecting sensitive information.
- The next is in intraday repo transactions—these are loans taken and returned on the same day—for short-term funding markets using high-quality collateral. Prividium provides smart contracts that could automate the entire repo process, where the fund and the collateral can move instantly without the need of any middlemen or custodians with lower risks.
ZK Stack, the one toolkit, many blockchains
ZK Stack, ZKsync’s zero-knowledge blockchain toolkit, is set to become a one-stop shop for building application-specific blockchains with easy access to liquidity, execution, and shared services across public and private ZK chains, including Ethereum. It is shifting from independent chains to a collaborative system, with application chains becoming central components of the stack.
Airbender expands beyond crypto to power
Furthermore, the open-source RISC-V proof system, called Airbender, is designed to advance from a high-speed Zero-Knowledge Virtual Machine (zkVM) to a universal standard. It aims to become a widely accepted standard, moving from pure speed to prioritizing trust, usability, security, formal correctness, and making it easier for developers to work with.
Airbender is built to support platforms like ZKsync and Ethereum, as well as many other uses, even outside the usual cryptocurrency world.
