ZKsync governance published ZIP-16 in June, proposing a v31 protocol upgrade that would let connected Elastic Chain networks move assets and messages without third-party bridges.
The upgrade would enable native interop calls across ZKsync Era and partner chains at a fixed 10 ZK per transaction. It was originally targeted for activation before July 1, but governance delayed the rollout and exact timing remains pending.
The Elastic Chain is ZKsync’s architecture of ZK Stack chains settling through a shared Gateway. ZIP-16 adds interop bundles, which group cross-chain calls so they execute atomically by default. Designated parties can request partial execution through an unbundling process, but the baseline is one grouped settlement across connected chains.
The clearest institutional test is Cari Network, a tokenized deposit platform built on ZKsync’s Prividium stack. Five U.S. regional banks, Huntington National Bank, First Horizon Bank, M&T Bank, KeyBank, and Old National Bank, together hold approximately $779 billion in total assets and are targeting a Q3 2026 pilot of real transactions, with full production availability planned for Q4 2026, per Ledger Insights.
CoinDesk reported in March 2026 that testing of token issuance, transfers, and redemption was already underway. Cari deposits remain liabilities of the issuing banks with FDIC coverage, unlike stablecoin-issued claims. Native interop would give those banks a settlement rail for clearing across chains without off-chain bridges.
The proposal also lands as ZKsync faces pressure to keep app chains inside its network. Sophon, a consumer chain built on ZKsync’s Hyperchain stack with $70 million in total funding, said June 25 it would shut down its L2 and migrate to Coinbase’s Base. Annual chain costs of $3.4 million were a stated driver; the company’s co-founder wrote that “the value has never been in who runs the rails, but rather always been in the products built on top.”
ZKsync Era holds $211.32 million in TVL, compared with Arbitrum One’s $17.65 billion and Base’s $10.93 billion. ZIP-16 is not a TVL story yet. It is a bid to make ZKsync chains operate as one connected network, with Cari’s Q3 pilot as the first banking-scale test.