Fireside Chat I Kartik Talwar and Sergey Nazarov I Pragma Cannes 2025

Thu, Oct 2, 2025, 12:00 AM

In this fireside chat at Pragma Cannes 2025, Kartik Talwar interviews Sergey Nazarov, co-founder of Chainlink, about the evolving landscape of DeFi, institutional adoption, and the future of blockchain. Sergey discusses the increasing creativity in DeFi yield generation, the impact of potential Fed interest rate cuts, and the growing focus on compliance and cross-chain identity to attract institutional capital. He highlights regulatory shifts, especially in the US, enabling institutions to participate in DeFi, and predicts a massive influx of tokenized real-world assets, stablecoins, and institutional funds—potentially surpassing the current crypto market cap within three years. Sergey emphasizes the need to preserve decentralization and transparency as traditional finance enters Web3, and advises developers to focus on stablecoin innovation, payments, real-world asset issuance, and vault strategies. Chainlink’s role in providing proof of reserves, cross-chain integration, and compliance solutions is also discussed as key infrastructure for this transition. 00:00 Introduction 00:32 State of DeFi and Yield Innovation 02:14 DeFi Yield vs. Fed Rates and Institutional Interest 04:49 Institutional Perspectives and Compliance Risks 06:19 Regulatory Shifts and US Influence 08:52 Institutional Capital and On-Chain Integration 10:32 Industry Narratives and Capital Influx 12:09 Impact on Blockchain Ethos and Public Networks 13:50 Tokenization of Real-World Assets 15:27 Institutional Influence and Industry Evolution 17:35 Timeline for Institutional Adoption 18:48 Chainlink’s Role in the New Landscape 19:54 Stablecoins, Payments, and Industry Shifts 20:54 Advice for Developers and Founders 21:51 Opportunities: Stablecoins, Payments, Asset Issuance 23:34 Vaults, Asset Management, and Infrastructure 24:14 Closing Advice and Conclusion _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 🇫🇷 *Pragma Cannes* Pragma Cannes 2025 was held on July 3rd at the Carlton Cannes in Cannes, France and was an in-person summit for builders and leaders in the web3 ecosystem. Watch the full Pragma Cannes YouTube Playlist here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXzKMXK2aHh6jZYPY5-YIBzvMtUT3ajjI ETHGlobal's Pragma series takes place in cities around the world, and is designed to be a different kind of event. Pragma is a one-stage conference with founders-only on stage, bringing together a small group of curated attendees and speakers to discuss the future of web3 and reflect on the past. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ✅ Follow Sergey Nazarov X: https://x.com/SergeyNazarov ✅ Follow Chainlink X: https://x.com/chainlink ✅ Follow ETHGlobal X: https://x.com/ETHGlobal​ Warpcast: https://warpcast.com/ethglobal Website: https://ethglobal.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@UCfF9ZO8Ug4xk_AJd4aeT5HA _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Are you interested in Ethereum development and entrepreneurship? 👉 Sign up for the next ETHGlobal event: https://ethglobal.com/events 🎁 Get exclusive access and perks with ETHGlobal Plus! https://ethglobal.com/plus 📣 Want us to throw an event in your city? Tell us where! https://ethglobal.com/city _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _