Decentralized finance is no longer a niche idea sitting on the edge of the crypto world. According to Chainlink Co-Founder Sergey Nazarov, DeFi has already covered about 30% of its global adoption journey. He says the industry has moved far beyond the experimental “DeFi Summer” of 2020 and is now entering a phase where the real world is starting to pay attention.
Decentralized finance is no longer a niche idea sitting on the edge of the crypto world. According to Chainlink Co-Founder Sergey Nazarov, DeFi has already covered about 30% of its global adoption journey. He says the industry has moved far beyond the experimental “DeFi Summer” of 2020 and is now entering a phase where the real world is starting to pay attention.
The next major step depends on one thing: clear regulation. He explained that once governments introduce proper rules explaining why decentralized systems are reliable and secure, DeFi could quickly move from 30% to 50% adoption.
For many institutions, the missing piece is confidence. Laws that define how on-chain financial systems operate could unlock that next wave.
The road from 50% to 70% adoption will come from banks, asset managers, and financial firms entering the space in a meaningful way. Nazarov said institutions must be able to easily deploy their own funds and customer funds directly into tokenized markets. Right now, the infrastructure is improving, but it is not yet smooth or simple enough for everyone. Once this pathway becomes efficient, he expects a large influx of capital.
“The institutional world is not something people in the crypto industry and the DeFi industry have ever really interacted with. The only ones who instantly understand and appreciate what we’re building are those who previously worked in traditional financial markets. They immediately get what we’re doing immediately,” he said.
Nazarov predicts that by 2030, financial charts will show a clear split between traditional systems and blockchain-linked markets.
That number may seem small, but it is rising fast and signals a powerful long-term shift. He believes the same kind of measurable divide will appear across global finance as more markets move on-chain.
Two forces are driving adoption: market demand and efficiency. Tokenized assets and stablecoins are growing together, creating deeper on-chain markets.
At the same time, blockchain offers 24/7 trading and continuous collateral management, while traditional systems operate only during business hours. Once people clearly see this difference, he argues, choosing blockchain becomes the obvious path.
