# The Missing Layer of Institutional Onchain Finance | Paul Henry Kajfasz (Unlink) at ETHConf

- Channel: [ETHGlobal](https://streameth.org/ethglobal)
- Date: 2026-07-09
- Duration: 12:41
- Topics: Unlimit, Paul Henry Kajfasz, ETHCom, privacy, compliance, institutional finance, onchain payments, stablecoins, public blockchains, AML, KYC, KYB, anti terrorism financing, selective disclosure, payroll, treasury, B2B payments, CFO, network effects, Ethereum, Solana, Monad, Euler, mixers, private L1, private L2, APIs, SDKs, financial rails, settlement, PayPal, programmable money, Lindy, physical attacks, kidnappings, AI surveillance, infrastructure
- Watch: https://streameth.org/watch/yt-p8izyu7glSs
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8izyu7glSs

## Description

In this talk, Paul Henry Kajfasz, founder and CEO of Unlink, makes the case that public blockchains have created better financial rails but cannot become the world's money without solving privacy. He frames the opportunity: onchain rails moved roughly $9 trillion in real volume last year (about 5x PayPal's volume), proving these are fundamentally better rails than traditional finance with instant settlement, near free transactions, 24/7 global availability, and full programmability, translating to millions in saved fees or new revenue for companies. Yet when he asks the room how many people use blockchain in their daily lives, only one or two hands go up, and worldwide penetration sits below 1%. Something is wrong.

Paul argues the root cause is that we built better rails but did not build better money. For 5,000 years from cowrie shells to cash to bank transfers, money has been private by default with selective disclosure to your bank or the taxman. Public blockchains broke this fundamental model by making every transaction leak all information. With AI, an internet connection, and a few tokens, anyone can know everything about a company's flows in an afternoon. He illustrates with a CFO running payroll onchain (employees seeing each other's salaries makes raises politically impossible), public treasuries, public B2B payments, and every trade being visible. He cites 72 physical attacks worldwide in 2025 including kidnappings and torture targeting people known to hold money onchain. He explains why privacy solutions have stayed niche: companies were forced to choose between non compliant cypherpunk mixers or new private L1s and L2s that break network effects, liquidity, and Lindy. The missing piece, and what Unlink is building, combines three things: privacy, compliance (AML, anti terrorism financing, KYC, KYB) as first class citizens, and integration through APIs, SDKs, and dashboards on the chains companies actually want to use like Ethereum and Solana. He closes by previewing partnerships with Monad, Euler, and others.

00:00 Introduction
00:08 Better Rails But Not Better Money
00:40 $9 Trillion Moved Onchain, 5x PayPal
01:22 Why Onchain Rails Are Fundamentally Better
02:27 Why Aren't Companies Rushing In
02:49 Show of Hands: Daily Blockchain Usage
03:34 Less Than 1% of Humanity Uses These Rails
04:11 The Missing Piece: Better Money
04:38 5,000 Years of Money Being Private by Default
05:05 How Public Blockchains Broke the Model
05:30 AI Makes Every Transaction Readable
06:18 The CFO Payroll Problem
07:13 72 Physical Attacks in 2025
07:57 Why Adoption Stalls
08:25 What Companies Actually Need
09:04 Why Privacy Stayed Niche
09:26 The Rock and Hard Place: Mixers vs New Chains
10:12 Losing Network Effects and Lindy
10:37 The Three Missing Pieces
10:59 Compliance as a First Class Citizen
11:24 Integrating with the Chains Companies Already Want
11:50 Unlink and the Vision Ahead
12:18 Closing: Bringing Trillions Onchain

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