Chainlink CEO: The Speed of Moving the US Financial System On-Chain Will Determine Its Global Standing

Odaily News - At the first meeting of the US CFTC Innovation Advisory Committee, Chainlink Co-founder and CEO Sergey Nazarov expressed gratitude that the CFTC and SEC have begun collaborating efficiently and constructively, rather than publicly conflicting with each other as they have in the past. He believes this has significantly enhanced the reputation and trust of US financial markets and helps form a unified regulatory vision, avoiding the "16 or 25 conflicting rules" that previously hindered innovation. Nazarov pointed out that regulatory fragmentation has come at a severe cost. Chainlink provides data, cross-chain, and other infrastructure for thousands of applications and underpins a large portion of the DeFi ecosystem. Over the past seven years, he has witnessed hundreds of developers choose to leave the US due to uncertainty, no longer building high-quality applications in the country or serving American consumers. These innovators are now absent from the meeting room—a tremendous loss for the US financial system and its consumers. He emphasized that the next trend is clear: equity tokenization will unlock substantial on-chain value. The US stock market currently accounts for roughly 60% of global equity market value and trading volume. If the global financial system accelerates its move on-chain, the US must advance at an equal or faster pace to maintain this dominant position. Otherwise, innovation and market advantages may slip away.