Revealed! Why the DTCC and Swift are using Chainlink! | Andrew McCormick

Andrew McCormick (0:00)

Blockchain and Bitcoin has gone boring. We like to talk about the price, the hype, it's fun. But the institutions like the boring. This is not just a fad meme hype. This is infrastructure. The SEC is probably the ultimate black hole. The SEC is going down that way. Everybody's going to follow. And my hope is that in future elections and administrations, people realize this is what the people want. This is what the institutions need. Everybody wins. And we're not going to see this crazy whiplash anymore.

Tony Edward (0:34)

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Hey, folks, welcome into the Thinking Crypto Podcast. I'm your host, Tony Edward. And joining me today is Andrew McCormick, who is the head of Institutional at Chainlink Labs. Andrew, great to have you back on.

Andrew McCormick (1:31)

Sir, always a joy shot with you, Tony. Thanks for the chance.

Tony Edward (1:34)

So, Andrew, last time we spoke, you were at eToro. We've had many conversations about the crypto market and more. Tell us about your new role at Chainlink and what you're doing over there.

Andrew McCormick (1:43)

Yeah, so joined the Chainlink crew in June. So it's been a fun, exciting, sleepless, like three or four months, because we are doing a lot.

So my role is to tell the institutional audience the Chainlink story, right? So that may be fintechs and the brokers doing cool stuff in tokenized equities. It may mean the exchanges, the large banks, asset managers who are maybe a little newer in their blockchain journey. Also spend a lot of time with research analysts who live and breathe research and data and telling stories. So I'm all over the place, traveling a lot, but really excited to tell the story. Chainlink has a crazy, cool, impactful, exciting story to tell. So happy to be here for sure.

Tony Edward (2:29)

Yeah. This was certainly a big week for Chainlink. Huge updates, for example, CCIP 2.0, Fulcrum as well. But before we get there, I want to set the table for those who may not have heard of Chainlink and don't know about it. Give a quick overview of Chainlink and what you guys do.

Andrew McCormick (2:44)

Yeah. Sure thing. So when I joined, I had explained to my mom and my kids that we are not a fence company. Sounds like a fence company. We are not a fence company. But we are the connection to blockchains in the real world because blockchains can do cool stuff. But ultimately, they can process transactions or native tokens, which is cool and impactful. But you could really unlock the true utility power impact when you connect them to the real world. Data, events, weather, prices, whatever it may be.

That's where Chainlink started in 2019, and invented the idea of decentralized oracles to enable you to connect data from the real world to a blockchain like Ethereum or Solana in a secure, trusted way.

But since then, we've done a whole lot more, whether, and I'm sure we'll get into some of these, interoperability, compliance, privacy, now collateral management, orchestration. And the whole goal is, is firms are exploring the blockchain, wanting to build on the blockchain. We want them to be able to plug into Chainlink, and we will take care of all that boring behind-the-scenes, middleware type stuff so they can do what they do best in logical products. We'll make sure behind-the-scenes is happening securely and compliantly.

Tony Edward (4:00)

Yeah. And personally, I'm a big fan of Link. I hold the token. I'm a Link Marine, as they would say. And it amazes me, the TradFi Institutions plus Crypto Native Firms and other Blockchains that use Chainlink's technology. It's incredible.

You mentioned it. You guys are the orchestrator and connector of these different things. So that's really great.

Andrew McCormick (4:22)

Yeah. This week... Quickly, that is probably my favorite part about being at Chainlink, is I get to be friends with everybody.

Tony Edward (4:29)

Everybody.

Andrew McCormick (4:29)

So the big banks, we're helping them. Large institutions, like financial structure institutions like DTCC or Swift, we're helping them. But then the cool like Neo brothers and startups. And every day is different. I'll go from suit and tie to t-shirt. Today is like kind of in between. But I love being friends with everybody and tell the story.