Introduction
ZKsync is a cryptography-first network of chains designed to support the next wave of financial applications. With more than $4 billion in assets secured, over 700 million transactions processed, and 18 chains live in its ecosystem, ZKsync delivers performance, privacy, and modularity without sacrificing security. It is built for programmable capital markets, tokenized assets, and cross-border settlement, all backed by zero-knowledge proofs and Ethereum finality.
Infrastructure Overview
ZKsync allows institutions and developers to launch private or public chains that inherit Ethereum security while maintaining control over UX, data, and economics. Each chain in the ZKsync Elastic Network benefits from real-time interoperability and sub-second finality across environments.
Key Infrastructure Components
ZK Stack
An open-source framework for building enterprise-grade ZK chains. It supports:
- Fully customizable infrastructure
- fully EVM-compatible today, with WASM support planned for future releases
- Privacy and compliance via selective disclosure
Prividium
ZKsync’s institutional-grade chain designed for privacy-preserving applications that require KYC/AML enforcement, confidential data handling, and regulatory alignment.
ZKsync Connect
An interoperability protocol enabling atomic, privacy-preserving settlement across chains in real time. Designed to remove third-party risk and unlock capital efficiency across applications.
Airbender Prover
A general-purpose, high-frequency proving system delivering sub-second block proofs and minute-level Ethereum finality on commodity GPUs. Supports EVM bytecode, WASM, and Rust with no code changes.
Atlas Upgrade
The Atlas upgrade introduces a high-performance sequencer designed to support over 15,000 TPS with sub-second inclusion times. Early benchmarks show up to 43,000 TPS in certain transaction types, such as ETH transfers. The sequencer design emphasizes modularity, separation of concerns, and replayability to optimize performance and developer experience.
- Price feed simulation reached 23,000 TPS
- Stablecoin transfers sustained at 15,000 TPS
- ETH transfers peaked at 43,000 TPS
Atlas integrates the Airbender prover to deliver one-second ZK block proofs and real-time settlement. This enables:
- High-frequency trading and exchange infrastructure
- Cross-chain asset movement with ZK guarantees
- Ultra-low-cost execution (~$0.0001 per ERC20 transfer)
Native EVM support is achieved through a dual-compilation pipeline where the same Rust-based transaction executor is compiled for x86 (sequencer) and RISC-V (prover). This ensures what is executed is what is proven, reducing audit complexity and enhancing trust.
Why Institutional Infrastructure Matters
Institutions are accelerating their shift to blockchain to unlock tokenized asset issuance, real-time payments, and global settlement. However, most public networks fall short on compliance, control, and privacy.
ZKsync addresses this gap with:
- Customizable private or public chain deployments
- Support for KYC/AML-compliant infrastructure
- Privacy through zero-knowledge selective disclosure
- Native interoperability across private and public networks
- Ethereum-backed finality and auditability
This enables use cases such as:
- Tokenized fund issuance and structured products (e.g., Deutsche Bank, Tradable)
- Cross-border stablecoin settlement with policy enforcement
- Real-time reconciliation and MEV-controlled execution
ZKsync’s Elastic Network provides a path for regulated entities to deploy performant financial infrastructure without relying on custodians, central clearers, or opaque intermediaries. It enables programmable finance with institutional-grade guarantees.
Developer-Ready Infrastructure
ZKsync was built with developers in mind:
- EVM-native tooling with Solidity, Hardhat, and Foundry support
- Modern onboarding: passkeys, session keys, gas abstraction
- Observability: metrics, logs, tracing, and deployable devnets
Product Use Cases and Ecosystem
ZKsync serves a wide range of verticals across finance, compliance, and tokenization:
Tokenized Real-World Assets
Organizations use ZKsync to issue and settle fund shares, treasuries, and private credit. The infrastructure supports confidential ownership, gasless participation, and compliance by design.
Programmable Capital Markets
ZKsync enables execution of private order flow with public proof of integrity. Use cases include:
- Automated collateral orchestration
- Onchain derivatives with MEV protection
- Custom trading infrastructure with built-in compliance hooks
Global Payments and Settlement
With near-instant network hops and finality to Ethereum, ZKsync replaces fragmented payment rails and enables real-time cross-border collections without intermediaries.
Institutional and Enterprise Adoption
Enterprises launching on ZKsync include:
- Deutsche Bank and Memento: Institutional-grade fund management chains
- Tradable: $1.7B+ in tokenized alternative assets
- Xsolla and WonderFi: New user-focused chains for gaming and consumer finance
- QuarkID: Over 3.6M verified citizens onboarded via zero-knowledge digital identity infrastructure
Security and Operational Integrity
ZKsync applies a defense-in-depth security model:
- Open-source codebase, independently audited
- Role-based access controls and permission frameworks
- Production-proven ZK proof systems with millions of validated transactions
Cantina has supported ZKsyncs through formal smart contract audits, including a 2023 engagement focused on the snark-wrapper, era-boojum, and rescue-poseidon cryptographic primitives. This engagement validated ZKsync’s SNARK compression layer, ensuring constraint correctness and integrity in the final proof verification process.
These efforts reflect both organizations’ alignment on cryptographic assurance and modular zero-knowledge infrastructure.
Cantina’s Perspective
At Cantina, we support networks like ZKsync that build modular infrastructure for capital coordination, privacy enforcement, and institutional-grade tokenization. ZKsync’s architecture provides a foundation for programmable trust and secure financial systems.
The emergence of ZKsync signals a broader shift: institutions, developers, and asset issuers now have access to infrastructure that scales globally, operates privately, and coordinates trust without relying on centralized validators or manual compliance.
What Comes Next
The ZKsync Elastic Network continues to grow. New chains are launching with custom settlement logic, tokenized products, and application-specific ZK circuits. Developers are leveraging Airbender and Atlas to build high-throughput, low-cost systems for trading, payments, AI integration, and digital identity.
Cantina is proud to support the teams setting infrastructure standards in this space. If you are building ZK-powered applications, tokenization platforms, or onchain financial rails, contact us to scope a security engagement.