ZKsync lists real-world infrastructure as core focus in 2026 roadmap

Ethereum Layer 2 scaling solution ZKsync ZK plans to take a more aggressive approach to build real-world use cases in 2026 based on the foundation it built last year.

On Monday, Matter Labs Co-founder and CEO Alex Gluchowski laid out a roadmap on X that prioritizes institutional adoption. The plan centers on four "non-negotiable" standards for ZKsync's products: privacy by default, deterministic control, verifiable risk management, and native connectivity to global markets.

"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."

A core pillar of the 2026 roadmap is expanding Prividium — the project's privacy-focused blockchain platform — into an established tool for banks, asset managers, and other enterprises looking to "integrate privacy directly" into their workflows and systems

Gluchowski has positioned Prividium as a key gateway for institutional adoption, as it is built to feel "natural" for them to integrate into their systems. The platform is intended to enhance privacy across various parts, such as access management, transaction approval flows, reporting, auditing, and integration with existing financial and operational software.

ZKsync's zero-knowledge blockchain toolkit ZK Stack will evolve into a one-stop shop for building application-specific blockchains with easy access to liquidity, execution, and shared services across different chains. ZK Stack aims to offer the "most direct path" to building appchains with less complexity and greater composability, Gluchowski said.

Last October, ZKsync rolled out the Atlas upgrade to ZK Stack, improving transaction speed and flexibility in the infrastructure offered to enterprises and institutions moving operations onchain.

Gluchowski also mentioned that ZKsync's settlement proving engine, Airbender, holds the goal of becoming a universal standard for zero-knowledge virtual machines.

"Enterprise crypto adoption was blocked not only by regulatory uncertainty, but by missing infrastructure," Gluchowski said. "Systems could not protect sensitive data, guarantee performance under peak load, or operate within real governance and compliance constraints."

The Matter Labs CEO said ZKsync has removed that block with the foundation built on the four key pillars. As ZKsync moves to real-world adoption, Gluchowski said it will focus on deep institutional partnerships.

"2026 is the year ZKsync moves from foundational deployments to visible scale," Gluchowski wrote. "We expect multiple regulated financial institutions, market infrastructure providers, and large enterprises to launch production systems on ZKsync, serving end users measured in the tens of millions rather than thousands."