EXCLUSIVE - Chainlink deepens ties with S&P

Andrew McCormick, Head of Institutional and Market Development, Chainlink Labs

Overview

Andrew McCormick, Chainlink Labs's Head of Institutional and Market Development, joined Gareth Jenkinson on The Starting Block to announce and explain Chainlink's expanded collaboration with S&P Global Ratings. The duo also discussed bringing vault risk assessments on chain, and the continuing convergence of TradFi and DeFi.

Episode 48 of The Starting Block, hosted by The Block's Gareth Jenkinson, was broadcasted live with Andrew McCormick, The Head of Institutional and Market Development at Chainlink Labs.

Key topics
• S&P Global vault risk assessments go on chain via Chainlink, launching on Base.
• Lending vault deposits grew from $1.5B to $10B in two years.
• DTCC launched tokenization services live, using Chainlink's Runtime Environment.
• Link NYC conference set for the following day with 1,000-plus attendees.
• Galaxy Digital posts $323M Q3 net income and a $200M share buyback.

Outline

- Introduction
- The Block Briefing: Top Headlines
- Chainlink x S&P Global
- Hot Seat: Andrew McCormick
- Lending Vaults Explained
- Chainlink's TradFi-DeFi Role
- Link NYC Conference
- The Future of Finance
- FOMC Decision Watch
- Tomorrow's Show & Outro

After The Block Briefing, McCormick explained the Chainlink-S&P Global announcement: S&P's vault risk assessments, which rate lending vaults following certain parameters including portfolio credit quality, liquidity mismatch, and protocol governance risk, are now being delivered onchain through Chainlink's Data Link product, and will launch first on Base. McCormick explained that the lending vault market has grown from $1.5 billion to roughly $10 billion in deposits in two years, roughly 600%, and said that putting independent risk data onchain enables both manual decision-making and smart-contract automation for moving assets between vaults. He also stated that Chainlink's recently announced vault adapters, which are designed to let users easily move assets across vaults, will be a complementary product.

McCormick spoke about Chainlink's broader infrastructure role, noting that institutions ranging from banks and asset managers to fintechs like Robinhood are using Chainlink for cross-chain operations and tokenized equities data. He pointed to DTCC going live with tokenization services the same day as the interview as evidence the convergence is real. He described the Chainlink Runtime Environment as the tool that allows banks and asset managers to build on blockchain using their existing systems, and said DTCC is already using it. He predicted 2026 as a year of building and 2027 as a year of scaling, and teased the Link NYC conference happening the following day, with over a thousand attendees including leaders from banks, asset managers, Robinhood, and DTCC. Gareth closed with a brief look at the pending FOMC decision, with Polymarket suggesting a 50-plus basis point cut was the consensus expectation.

About the guest
Andrew McCormick is the Head of Institutional and Market Development at Chainlink Labs, the primary developer of the Chainlink decentralized oracle network, where he leads the company's institutional engagement strategy with banks, asset managers, and market infrastructure providers. He previously spent roughly 15 years in traditional finance and fintech, including leadership roles at Morgan Stanley, E*Trade, and eToro US.