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Tokenization Enters Its Utility Era

October 13, 2026

Video Transcript

Kristen Scholer: McCormick is head of institutional and market development at Chainlink. Andrew, great to see you.

Andrew McCormick: Kristen, always a pleasure to see you and be here at the New York Stock Exchange.

Kristen Scholer: It is amazing. Tell us the latest at Chainlink. Got a lot going on.

Andrew McCormick: Lots of incredible projects. So for years, Chainlink has been that leading infrastructure connecting the real world to the blockchain. If you imagine a couple of years ago the momentum sweeping across the country, the Taylor Swift Eras Tour, here at Chainlink, and tokenization in general, we are in our utility era. Prior chapters were about, can we do this technically? Can we put assets on the blockchain? Now it’s all about giving them utility, putting them to work to benefit firms and also investors.

Kristen Scholer: So where do we stand in terms of the state of tokenization?

Andrew McCormick: It’s moving quickly, still very early, but the growth in the past two years is incredible. We’re at maybe 40 to 50 billion of tokenized assets today, excluding stablecoins. That’s up 200% from a year ago, 2,000% from two years ago. But leading banks are saying by 2030, maybe 2 trillion, 4 trillion, 10 trillion. So things are moving quick, but a massive, massive runway ahead.

Even just hot off the press, we have ICE, NYSE’s parent company, doing their own tokenization exchange and platform with OKX. And so firms like ICE, DTCC, and others are moving into this space. Everyone’s going to follow.

Kristen Scholer: What projects are you working on in this space at Chainlink?

Andrew McCormick: Yeah. So we have two that are very new. One is called Project Fulcrum. This is more for the institutional players. And this is to solve one of the largest inefficiencies in markets today, and that’s collateral. So large banks and asset managers have hundreds of millions of dollars a year that they’re losing out on because they have collateral just sitting there.

So with Project Fulcrum, we are trying to put that collateral to use, so people can use smart contracts to find lenders, find borrowers, put collateral to use. You can use any tokenized assets. And this is real life. We demoed this at the big banking conference just two weeks ago with the DTCC, showing how you can put up tokenized stocks and get loans from it. It’s 24/7, around the clock. And so Project Fulcrum is a great way for institutions to hopefully save a lot of money.

Kristen Scholer: What does this mean for the layperson?

Andrew McCormick: So that’s where my heartbeat is, how all this can impact retail investors, users at home. I think last week we announced a project that’s spot on for that, and that’s our CCIP Vault Adapters, which is a mouthful. CCIP is our cross-chain tool, so if you have an asset on one blockchain, you can move it to the other securely. Vaults are a digital wallet that does more than just having your assets sit. These vaults allow a retail user to put in an asset, whether it’s Bitcoin or a stablecoin, and it doesn’t just sit idle, but they can earn returns, fees. Put it to work.

And with our new Vault Adapters tool, whether you have a vault on one chain or the other, you can move cross-chain. If you’re the creator of these vaults, you have greater distribution. So what this ultimately means is giving end users greater flexibility, greater access to returns, and just greater freedom of how they want to use their own assets.

Kristen Scholer: What is next for Chainlink?

Andrew McCormick: Oh, so much. First, we’ve got a huge conference coming up, October 29th, that we’re hosting in NYC, with fabulous speakers, leaders, including speakers from the Intercontinental Exchange. So we’re super excited about that. But we have some crazy, exciting initiatives coming out soon. We are all in on the tokenized equity space, and so I’m personally super excited about that. But every day something new comes out. But right now, the big focus is collateral and putting money to work, whether you’re an institution or you’re an investor at home.

Kristen Scholer: Andrew, you’re a busy guy. We appreciate you taking the time to join us down here on the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange.

Andrew McCormick: Always a pleasure. Thank you, thank you.

Tokenization is moving quickly as major financial institutions move into the space, with tokenized assets growing sharply over the past two years. Kristen Scholer speaks with Andrew McCormick, head of institutional and market development at Chainlink, at the New York Stock Exchange about the state of tokenization and the company’s latest projects for institutions and retail investors.

McCormick says tokenization has entered its utility era, shifting from proving that assets can be put on the blockchain to putting them to work for firms and investors. He estimates tokenized assets at around $40 billion to $50 billion today, excluding stablecoins, up 200% from a year ago and 2,000% from two years ago, and notes that leading banks project the market could reach $2 trillion, $4 trillion, or even $10 trillion by 2030. He points to ICE, the parent company of the NYSE, launching its own tokenization exchange and platform with OKX as firms like ICE and DTCC move into the space.

McCormick highlights Project Fulcrum, an institutional initiative aimed at putting idle collateral to work through smart contracts that connect lenders and borrowers using tokenized assets, which Chainlink recently demonstrated with DTCC by showing how tokenized stocks can be used to secure loans around the clock. For retail users, Chainlink’s new CCIP Vault Adapters allow vaults holding assets such as Bitcoin or stablecoins to move across blockchains, giving users more flexibility and access to returns. Looking ahead, he says Chainlink is all in on tokenized equities and is hosting a conference in New York City on October 29th featuring speakers from the Intercontinental Exchange.

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