Cari, a bank-governed blockchain-based money movement platform founded by former US Comptroller of the Currency Gene Ludwig, has raised $32.5 million in the first tranche of its inaugural funding round, funded entirely by banks including First Horizon Bank, Huntington Bank, KeyBank, M&T Bank, Old National Bank, SouthState Bank, and Glacier Bank. The main objective is to let regional, mid-size, and community banks participate in the next generation of digital money infrastructure by minting, transferring, and redeeming tokenized deposits under full regulatory compliance; Cari’s permissioned Layer-2 network, built on Prividium‘s ZKsync-based technology, went live with its full product suite in July, offering programmatic capabilities, wallet interfaces, and operational portals. Cari says the new capital will accelerate bank onboarding and integration, building on more than 30 bank commitments representing over $10 trillion in combined assets, with roughly 40 more institutions in discussions. Key players include Cari founder Gene Ludwig and its founding bank partners, who have worked with the company as Design Partner Banks since September 2025.
Cari Raises $32.5M From Seven US Banks for Tokenized Deposit Network
