Layer-2 network ZKsync released a 2026 roadmap that puts privacy, deterministic control and native interoperability at the center of its strategy for institutional digital asset adoption.

Its plan, published by Matter Labs co-founder and CEO Alex Gluchowski, frames zero-knowledge technology as a foundational infrastructure for regulated finance. 

The roadmap follows a year of infrastructure delivery. In 2025, the network rolled out core components including Atlas, Prividium and Airbender. According to Gluchowski, these systems were designed to meet operational realities faced by banks, enterprises and governments, where confidentiality and performance are critical requirements. 

With regulatory conditions improving across jurisdictions, ZKsync argued that the remaining challenge for institutional adoption is infrastructure. Because of this, the 2026 roadmap transitions from technical foundations into real-world deployments. 

Privacy and control as the core focus

At the center of the roadmap is Prividium, the network’s privacy-focused execution environment. 

Instead of treating privacy as an optional feature, the platform is positioned as the default layer for enterprise applications, enabling institutions to execute transactions without exposing their balances, counterparties or internal decision-making logic. 

The company said its goal is to integrate private execution directly into enterprise workflows, including identity management, approval processes, auditing and compliance reporting. 

“Sensitive financial data cannot be public without breaking competitiveness, confidentiality, and law,” Gluchowski wrote. “This is obvious to anyone in traditional finance, yet has been routinely overlooked in crypto.”

In addition to privacy, ZKsync also emphasized that control is equally important to institutions. The roadmap highlighted performance isolation, deterministic access rules and the ability to contain operational errors without relying on external consensus. 

“A clearing house must reliably process margin calls during market stress; on shared networks, unrelated activity can consume blockspace and jeopardize risk-critical operations,” Gluchowski said. 

Such features mirror expectations in traditional financial environments. 

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From isolated chains to orchestrated systems

ZKsync also plans to evolve its ZK Stack from a framework for individual chains into an orchestrated system of public and private networks. 

The roadmap envisions native cross-chain connectivity that allows applications to access liquidity and shared services across ZK chains and Ethereum without the need for external bridges. 

The company said that the institutional partnerships they initiated in 2025 are progressing toward production, with deployment expected to serve millions of users. 

If realized, the roadmap would mark a shift from experimental pilots toward large-scale institutional use of zero-knowledge infrastructure. 

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