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  • Chainlink’s Sergey Nazarov stated that regulatory clarity is essential to remove the existing barriers to DeFi adoption.
  • Nazarov believes DeFi adoption could rise to 70% as institutional capital flows in, with full adoption potentially achievable by 2030.

Chainlink’s Sergey Nazarov recently shared his outlook on the mass adoption of decentralised finance (DeFi). During his latest interview with MN Capital, Nazarov said : “I think we’re about 30% of the way there.” The Chainlink co-founder believes that the United States needs to take the lead in getting clear crypto rules.

“A lot of governments follow what the US does because they want to be compatible with the US financial system,”

Similar discussions have been underway even within the crypto task force at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Michael Selig, the chief counsel at the task force, recently said :

“When we’re thinking about DeFi, it’s something of a buzzword.”

Selig stated that the focus should be more on on-chain applications, their features, and whether any intermediaries are involved.

Nazarov Believes 100% Defi Adoption Possible By 2030

Once clear and effective DeFi rules are in place, Sergey Nazarov believes that it could push further to 70% DeFi adoption. This will happen when institutional players put their and their clients’ money into DeFi.

Nazarov also thinks that full global adoption is likely only when DeFi scales to a level where its capital base is directly comparable to that in traditional finance.

“I think we’ll be at 100% when you have those kinds of pie charts to show the percentage of client money or institutional capital that is in a DeFi system versus a TradFi system. I think there are going to be charts like this in 2030,”

DeFi lending protocols have gained strong momentum in recent months. This comes with support from rising institutional use of stablecoins and tokenized assets. According to Binance Research, total value locked in DeFi lending platforms has surged more than 72% year-to-date, surging from $53 billion at the start of 2025 to over $127 billion.

Chainlink has also been supporting other projects in the market. Its data standards have recently been integrated with Monad (MON), offering a strong foundation for cross-chain DeFi.