A lot of people still see blockchain as a technology searching for a use case. I think that view is becoming increasingly outdated. The more interesting development happening today is not whether institutions will use blockchain, but which blockchain infrastructure they will choose to build on.
That shift matters because some of the world's largest financial organizations are no longer experimenting at the edges. JPMorgan's Kinexys platform has already processed more than $1.5 trillion on blockchain-based rails. The DTCC is advancing tokenization initiatives for U.S. Treasuries, while the NYSE is working on tokenized securities infrastructure. At the same time, the tokenized asset market continues to grow and stablecoins have become an important part of global digital finance. The conversation has moved beyond theory. Financial institutions are now evaluating the practical infrastructure that could support the next generation of settlement and asset movement.
What makes 2026 particularly important is that many of the remaining questions are no longer about adoption but about implementation. Institutions need systems that provide privacy, interoperability, reliable settlement, and governance standards that can operate within regulated environments. These are not optional features. Banks cannot move significant amounts of value through systems that expose sensitive transaction information, and they cannot build on infrastructure that does not meet operational and regulatory requirements.
This is where
@zksync has positioned itself in an interesting way. While many people know ZKsync for its Ethereum scaling technology, the project has also been developing infrastructure aimed at institutional use cases. Today, its ecosystem includes deployments and initiatives involving organizations such as Deutsche Bank through the Memento platform, ADI Chain with participation from institutions including First Abu Dhabi Bank, the Central Bank of the UAE, BlackRock, Mastercard, and Franklin Templeton, as well as Cari Network, which is onboarding five U.S. regional banks representing more than $600 billion in combined deposits. BitGo has also integrated institutional custody services with ZKsync's institutional-focused infrastructure.
What stands out is not simply the list of participants but the broader pattern. Financial infrastructure becomes more valuable as more institutions connect to it. We have seen this dynamic repeatedly throughout history. Networks such as SWIFT and Visa became dominant not because they appeared overnight, but because each new participant increased the value of the network for everyone already connected. Over time, adoption created a powerful feedback loop that attracted even more participants.
The same logic applies to onchain settlement. When one institution joins a network, it gains access to that network. When many institutions join, they gain access to one another. The result is a growing web of possible financial relationships, settlement pathways, and operational efficiencies. That is why first-mover advantages in financial infrastructure can be so significant. Once institutions invest years into integrations, compliance processes, operational workflows, and counterparty relationships, switching becomes much more difficult than simply adopting a new piece of software.
This is why I believe the most important story in crypto right now is not the launch of another token or application. It is the race to build the infrastructure layer that institutions trust enough to use at scale. The decisions being made today will influence how value moves across digital financial networks for years to come. Whether
@zksync ultimately becomes one of the defining settlement layers remains to be seen, but it is already participating in the conversations, deployments, and institutional relationships that matter. In a market increasingly focused on real-world adoption, that may prove far more important than hype.