iliketurtles&CCIP

$LINK In retrospect, it was inevitable.

[iliketurtles&CCIP @plantbasedfreak]

@HodlJamie

[Chainlink @chainlink]

7 years. One goal.

LINK EVERYTHING.

[Sergey Nazarov @SergeyNazarov]

Three key trends I am increasingly excited about...

1: Our industry has started caring much more about the security and reliability of the infrastructure, standards and oracles/dependencies that it is built on top of. This shift in focus towards security is already massively benefiting Chainlink because it is built with security and reliability in mind from the start e.g. 16 nodes vs 1 of 1 or 2 of 2 (which is actually often just a 1 of 1 in disguise). This focus on reliability and security makes a better system for everyone in the DeFi/TradFi industry to transact with less risk and also leads to more overall Chainlink adoption over time. The way Chainlink became the leading data oracle is through security and reliability, I think that will happen across all categories where Chainlink deploys services for the same reasons.

We are now clearly seeing this dynamic take place in cross-chain interoperability, with many large users migrating onto CCIP after conducting deeper security reviews of bridging providers, more and more of which are now being published, some telling quotes below:

https://t.co/7ANpmqIlPn
Kraken chose Chainlink CCIP because it offers enterprise-grade infrastructure with strict security & risk management requirements, including:

• ISO 27001 and SOC 2 Type 2 certifications
• Secure by default architecture
• 16 independent nodes
• Native rate limits, and more.

https://t.co/hPnqT7CFcT and https://t.co/QHXnyjO2fp
The analysis covers how Chainlink CCIP delivers strong decentralization, native safeguards, and issuer control as default protocol-level guarantees, which insulates wstETH from a number of attack vectors behind the Kelp / LayerZero exploit.

https://t.co/AObyg1Nunx
Chainlink CCIP has emerged as the standard in cross-chain infrastructure, providing an enterprise-grade framework to secure high-value assets

With over $4Billion migrated in just a few weeks and more on the way, I am clearly seeing the industry's clear preference for security and reliability being a key trend leading to accelerated adoption of Chainlink and CCIP.

2: Chainlink has always continued to build and added many of its best features during down markets, when there is less noise to distract top teams from building. Because Chainlink already has clear product market fit, being able to focus on building the future is a powerful accelerant for future progress and is actually what I and many of the people building Chainlink are here for.

I am very excited about both the use case specific features e.g. collateral management and the increasing number of reusable primitives e.g. verifiable confidential compute in CRE, which are now actively being built, refined and launched with top users. In my experience, during the down market lulls is when the best things get built, and I am truly thrilled to see Chainlink being built to better serve its existing users and entirely new users.

3: The RWA, TradFi Tokenization and Digital Assets industry has now decoupled from crypto prices as a determining factor of its success and is a rapidly growing market of its own. Great news for the technologies, standards and infrastructures that can serve this new and growing demand, of which Chainlink is at the very top of the list. By having the relevant certifications; https://t.co/PlGDKLrJDi, being the historically most secure/reliable option with the largest amount of value enabled and being able to compose multiple key primitives (Data + Interoperability + Identity/compliance + verifiable off-chain orchestration) into full end-to-end solutions like no other platform can, puts the Chainlink platform/ecosystem in a unique place to be adopted by this new and growing market.

This is now becoming increasingly clear in practice through Chainlink's adoption in various parts of the capital markets; from collateral management with some of the most recent examples being...

DTCC using CRE and Data for their production plans; https://t.co/IiXXFfUwJu + https://t.co/sHe6QvquYR

Data providers like SGX using DataLink for key data; https://t.co/P7uPeOzliY

Top asset managers like State Street; https://t.co/Jh08KBnCvN and Fidelity International; https://t.co/06noNUEbEt, being powered by Chainlink on the backend.

The above are just a small number of recent examples, with many more being worked on all across the TradFi ecosystem, from payments, to tokenized equities, to tokenized funds; all of these on-chain finance use cases need multiple Chainlink components working together.

I can't wait for the next stage, where the leading DeFi applications and the top TradFi institutions start interoperating through their use of shared on-chain standards, interoperability connections and data/identity oracles, all of which are being provided by Chainlink, together with existing infrastructures. Solving each of these market's individual problems is already exciting, but helping them merge into the new global financial system is something that I and many others in our ecosystem have been working towards for a while.

If the above sounds like something worth spending many late nights on, and you can see the future I am talking about, this is the best time to join a top team like Chainlink Labs... if you're the best of the best, excited about the future of the blockchain industry, DeFi, TradFi and building the future of the new global financial system, we are excited to work together with you: https://t.co/zhTgEzBUm0.

[Craig Unger @craigunger]

Wow. Talk about shadow banning! This post must have triggered every algorithm in the book. Elon managed to make sure that fewer 500 people saw. So don't read it. If you do, you will be defying Musk, MAGA, Trump and Putin.

[Black Hole @konstructivizm]

The clearest image of Mars ever taken
NASA

[Sergey Nazarov @SergeyNazarov]

Cycles are a normal part of the crypto industry, what is important is what those cycles reveal about how far the industry has progressed and what next stage/trends of adoption/value creation will go on to define the industry.

So far this cycle reveals two key things for me:

Firstly, there have been no large risk management failures leading to large institutional failures or widespread systemic risks. In the previous cycle you had FTX and multiple lenders cleaned out through large price drops, this time around I am pleasantly surprised to see none of that or at least none of it at any system wide scale. If the crypto industry and its systems are able to successfully weather large drawdowns in price and liquidity issues then it is a more reliable place to put both retail/client capital and institutional capital. This time has been much better managed than last time.

Secondly, real world asset migration on-chain continues to accelerate regardless of Bitcoin/Cryptocurrency prices, signaling that having real world assets on-chain is not tightly coupled to crpytocurrency prices but provides its own unique value that can grow irrespective of market pricing of Bitcoin or other crypto assets. We have seen RWA issuance continue to grow and we've seen leading on-chain perp markets rival tradfi perp markets for very traditional commodities like silver, especially in periods when trading in permissioned traditional markets became harder or more risky vs trading in on-chain permissionless markets. As more and more RWA data goes on-chain to make perps work correctly for more asset types and as more on-chain value is generated as RWAs themselves, I expect these dynamics to only increase regardless of crypto prices.

These are both very positive signals for the assumptions I have been making about three key trends I am expecting to work together to reshape our industry in the next stage of its growth into mainstream adoption.

Firstly, on-chain perps about real world assets and tokenization of the assets on-chain has unique and durable long-term value which is growing regardless of any other dynamics. It is the value of 24/7/365 markets, on-chain collateral management and on-chain data.

Secondly, institutional adoption of our industry will be driven by the fundamental/technology value it provides, accelerated by access to permissionless/always on markets in DeFi, which will grow massively as a result.

Thirdly, the infrastructure that will make RWAs possible will be experiencing much more demand as more of the real world finds itself on-chain. As more RWAs have to go on-chain as perps via on-chan data or tokenization itself and as those RWAs are increasingly complex in how they need to work on-chain, more systems will need to interface with chains to enable those RWAs.

The first two trends are inevitable market forces that are now accelerating regardless of cryptocurrency prices, that is the real insight I see from this part of the cycle. The third trend is where Chainlink is providing the key global standards/protocols/infrastructure that is needed for providing the data, connectivity and orchestration that accelerates the first two trends.

Data is what allows most RWAs to exist on-chain at all. Market data for on-chain perps e.g. on-chain silver markets, Proof of Reserves for Stablecoins, NAV for Tokenized Funds to operate on-chain and many other examples touching every category of RWAs. Chainlink is the largest provider of data to the leading blockchains by far and is successfully servicing the vast majority of DeFi for all their data needs with 70%+ market share. Our new launches with leading institutional data providers like S&P, ICE and many others put Chainlink in a similar position in the growing institutional RWA world.

Connectivity to both other chains and existing backend/accounting/risk management systems is key for liquidity. The ability to connect to the other chains as a system of record/source of liquidity and to the existing centralized systems of record/sources of liquidity are key for scaling RWA adoption globally. Chainlink is the leading provider of these capabilities to institutions and has been chosen by the leading security teams in Web3 to be their official bridging provider due to a superior reliability/security track record. Chainlink is also the only system that successfully pulls TradFi payments into on-chain transactions across multiple chains, integrating existing sources of liquidity and new sources of liquidity into one interoperability layer.

Orchestration is the process of coordinating multiple systems into one workflow/transaction that defines the core value an application is providing to its users. Coordinating between multiple chains, multiple off-chain systems, multiple market data sources and now multiple AIs is a key function that some system needs to play for the more advanced RWAs to function properly. The Chainlink Runtime Environment seems to be the only environment in which you can currently run a workflow that can coordinate all of these key systems into a single application, already in use by enterprises and with advanced integrations into many key systems. Orchestration has an additional critical component of creating privacy, which there are now new and exciting solutions for being built on CRE. More to come on truly useful privacy as a key feature of CRE's orchestration.

If these trends continue I believe what I have been saying for years will happen; on-chain RWAs will surpass cryptocurrency in the total value in our industry and what our industry is about will fundamentally change. This shift will also lead to cryptocurrency's growth as an asset class that benefits from more capital on-chain, but RWAs is how all of this goes mainstream.

I have never been more excited about our industry's potential to become the way a better version of the global financial system works to benefit all of us.

[Bill Madden @maddenifico]

Spot-fucking-on. 🎯🎯🎯🎯🎯👇

[wahndo @Wahndo_]

@laurashin @DavidDuong made possible with chainlink 👀
https://t.co/h531HqM23G

[iliketurtles&CCIP @plantbasedfreak]

@elonmusk

[iliketurtles&CCIP @plantbasedfreak]

In case you didn’t know, you don’t have to pick sides. It’s ok to own #Gold #Silver and $BTC and of course $LINK

[Brendan May @bmay]

50 years sober today.

Wonderful message from a wonderful man. 👏

[iliketurtles&CCIP @plantbasedfreak]

👀 #silver

[Silver Santa @Silver__Santa]

#SILVER $60

[Curiosity @CuriosityonX]

🚨 This is wild. We are talking about actual building blocks of life found on a raw asteroid. Sugars, amino acids and nucleobases sitting out in space tell us that the recipe for life was already everywhere long before Earth formed. This matters more than people think

[iliketurtles&CCIP @plantbasedfreak]

@iwhente @leandroOnX Look into @YeonmiParkNK to get an idea of what it’s like

[Ari Juels @AriJuels]

Privacy is nonnegotiable for traditional financial institutions (TradFi). @SergeyNazarov today announced that the Chainlink Runtime Environment (CRE) incorporates private-oracle tech Town Crier and DECO—the culmination of years of research and technology maturation. @chainlink

[Zedzies @Zedzies]

Few Bitcoiners are aware that Ari Juels of RSA (now Chief Scientist @chainlink Labs) and Markus Jakobsson of Bell Labs created the bedrock upon which Bitcoin was built a decade before the whitepaper was published.

Some believe they helped build it.

[Rick Barber @Rick_Barber_]

Dear @chainlink Holders, Former Holders, and Professional Armchair Economists,

I would like to begin this letter with a sincere apology. Truly, I am sorry.

I am sorry that in 2017, when I first set out to solve the oracle problem, I did not instead launch a token of a cartoon frog holding a beer. I clearly misunderstood what this industry valued most.

I am sorry that instead of promising quick riches, I promised real infrastructure. My mistake.

I am sorry that while many projects focused on hype and vaporware, I foolishly spent years actually building. I realize now that secure, audited, battle-tested code is not nearly as exciting as a new meme or a rebrand every three months.

I apologize for launching Chainlink Price Feeds, which now secure hundreds of billions of dollars across DeFi. I should have known that making every major lending, trading, and stablecoin protocol depend on Chainlink was far less impressive than another celebrity endorsement or a flashy whitepaper with no code behind it.

I apologize for introducing CCIP, a universal messaging layer that connects banks, institutions, and blockchains around the world. Apparently, nobody wanted global interoperability. They just wanted another token that would double overnight and disappear next quarter.

I am sorry that we formed partnerships with Google, SWIFT, DTCC, the ANZ Bank, and dozens of major financial institutions. How reckless of us to integrate with the global financial system instead of chasing the next trend on social media.

I am sorry for the years of quiet work on our reputation systems, decentralized oracle networks, staking upgrades, and verifiable computation. I now see that the market would rather have a dog mascot than a secure data layer for the global economy.

And yes, I am deeply sorry that the $LINK token has refused to obey your price charts and “breakout soon” predictions. While the network grew stronger, more secure, and more essential to Web3 every single year, the token did something truly unacceptable. It stayed undervalued.

So yes, I confess. We built too much. We partnered too widely. We solved too many problems. We did it all without making enough noise about it. And for that, for putting actual progress before speculation, I offer my sincerest apology.

If you can forgive me, perhaps one day, when the noise fades and the short-term thinkers move on, you will see what we were building all along. You will see that the most boring token in the room became the foundation everyone else depends on.

Please feel free to share with anyone needing these words.

Yours regretfully,
Sergey Nazarov
Chief Offender of Building Real Things

[Hershey Bears @TheHersheyBears]

Petition to make a hockey smile emoji ✍🏻

[iliketurtles&CCIP @plantbasedfreak]

@LINK_HODL

[Dr. Ape @TheLINKApe]

This day will literally go down in the history of finance. 📖

Today, #chainlink enters the @federalreserve, by invitation.

After a decade of work, the next chapter begins. $LINK
cc: @TheLinkMarine1