$ZK Token

The native asset of the ZKsync Network

Finance is moving onchain. ZKsync is the only settlement network that delivers privacy, institutional control, cryptographic enforcement, and Ethereum finality. $ZK is the protocol's only native asset. Fixed supply. No inflation.

21B fixed supplyGovernance token holder-controlled

$ZK at a glance

The only native asset of the ZKsync network

$ZK powers governance, and is used by ZKsync Governance to vote on key protocol upgrades and initiatives. It launched with a stem-cell design: governance can expand its economic function into any model as the network scales.

One network. One asset. $ZK is built to grow into its role as the network matures.

ZKsync uses a three-body governance model: the Token Assembly (holder voting), the Security Council (technical review of upgrades), and the Guardians (emergency safeguard). Together these three bodies form ZKsync Governance. No single body controls the protocol.

21 billion

Total Max Supply

ZKsync Governance29.3%

ZKsync Foundation19.9%

Airdrop (fully liquid)17.5%

Investors, advisors & team33.3%

Permissionless burn function enabled to reduce circulating supply
Distributed through capped minters, not pre-minted treasury
Three-body governance: Token Assembly, Security Council, Guardians

Institutional finance needs new rails

The global financial system runs on infrastructure designed for a different era. Settlement is slow, fragmented, and dependent on intermediaries at every step.

T+1

Settlement is still overnight

Even after the U.S. moved to T+1 in 2024, capital is locked between when a transaction starts and when it settles. Trillions sit frozen in correspondent banking accounts pre-funding these delays. Every intermediary extracts a fee.

No standard has emerged

A decade of blockchain investment has produced pilots but no production standard. Private chains lack reach. Public chains expose data. Consortia require shared trust in a central operator. Every approach fails on at least one requirement institutions need.

Four constraints, no compromise

Institutions need privacy, institutional control, neutral settlement, and cryptographic enforcement simultaneously. Not two out of four. Not three. All four. That's the bar no one has cleared. Until now.

Prividium™: autonomous zones, shared network

ZKsync enables institutions to operate private environments that settle to Ethereum through zero-knowledge proofs. Each zone is autonomous. Together, they form a network.

Every zone extends the network's reach

Each institution operates a Prividium zone: private, self-governed, settling to Ethereum through ZK proofs. Privacy is proven by mathematics, not enforced by policy. Institutional control of zone rules, access, and compliance is guaranteed by the architecture, not granted by an operator.

Settlement anchors to Ethereum: the one infrastructure no single entity can capture. Accounts inside a zone can transact directly on Ethereum with no bridge and no intermediary.

As more institutions deploy zones, the network compounds. Each new zone opens a settlement corridor to every existing zone. The value of the network grows with every participant.

With just 10 institutions, the network already opens 45 corridors, but at 100 institutions, that number explodes to 4,950. It's the same compounding dynamic that built SWIFT from 239 banks to 11,000 institutions across 200 countries.

Where $ZK sits in the architecture

The network needs a native economic asset to align incentives across its participants. $ZK is that asset.

Governance

$ZK holders control network-level decisions: protocol upgrades, fee structures, economic parameters. The people making economic decisions are the same people whose interests those decisions affect.

Network Settlement

$ZK is the native gas token for ZKsync Gateway, the settlement layer of the ZKsync network. Gateway is where transactions across all chains and Prividium zones are coordinated and bundled before being posted to Ethereum L1 for final settlement.

Protocol Economics

$ZK is the native asset used for protocol fees across the ZKsync network. Protocol fees are part of the current Prividium architecture: institutional transactions on Prividium use $ZK for protocol fees, which are routed through governance-defined mechanisms.

Every alternative network fails on at least one

Institutions need four properties from settlement infrastructure simultaneously.
No other network delivers all four.

Privacy

ZK proofs guarantee privacy mathematically. Transaction data never leaves the zone. Not a policy. Not a promise. Math.

Public chains fail here

Institutional Control

Each institution governs its own zone: compliance, access, and internal rules under their control. Shared network upgrades follow the governance process, with institutions controlling execution timing.

Shared chains fail here

Neutral Settlement

Settles to Ethereum. The one settlement layer no single entity can capture.

Consortia fail here

Cryptographic Enforcement

Network-wide rules enforced by ZK proofs without revealing individual positions. Impossible without zero-knowledge cryptography.

Every Phase 1 chain fails here

Phase 1 is bilateral.
Phase 2 is programmable.

Today's institutional blockchain market is stuck in Phase 1. ZKsync is the only network building Phase 2.

Phase 1 — Where the market is today

Bilateral settlement between known counterparties

Two parties who already know each other can settle a transaction. The operator verifies. No network-wide rules. No programmable enforcement across participants. This is all Phase 1 architectures will ever do. They are structurally limited by design.

Canton, Fnality, consortium chains, proprietary protocols

Phase 2 — Where ZKsync is

Programmable settlement with cryptographic enforcement

The protocol itself guarantees that aggregate rules hold across all participants without revealing any individual's data. Network-wide issuance caps, exposure limits, compliance. No operator required. The roadmaps from DTCC, CFTC, ISDA, and BIS all require Phase 2 capabilities.

Requires zero-knowledge proofs. ZKsync is already here.

The network is live

Not a roadmap. Live deployments and signed partnerships building on ZKsync across three continents.

Cari Network

Production 2026

5 U.S. regional banks. Founded by Eugene Ludwig, former U.S. Comptroller of the Currency. MBCA-endorsed. Tokenized deposit infrastructure on Prividium.

BitGo

Production 2026

Institutional custody, wallet infrastructure, and regulated digital asset services integrated with Prividium.

Deutsche Bank

Live

Memento ZK Chain for tokenized fund management. Originated from Singapore MAS Project Guardian.

ADI Chain

Live

IHC / First Abu Dhabi Bank. Live UAE Central Bank-regulated stablecoin with Mastercard payment integration.

Featured in

$ZK fee architecture

Protocol fees are part of the current Prividium commercial architecture: institutional contracts include protocol fee provisions. The smart contract mechanism for routing protocol fees through $ZK-based governance-defined mechanisms is in development. Governance has the authority to determine how those fees are structured, collected, and allocated, including enacting burn mechanisms.

The ZKnomics proposals currently under community review outline the framework for protocol fee routing and allocation. ZKsync Governance determines economic parameters.

Read the ZKnomics proposals on the governance forum