Wall Street’s 4 PM Closing Bell Faces a New Challenge
For decades, Wall Street has operated on a rhythm dictated by a 4 p.m. market close and settlement processes that can take days. Now, Andrew McCormick is leading the charge to argue that this established model is nearing its expiration date.
McCormick, who recently took the helm as Chainlink Labs’ Head of Institutional and Market Development on June 4, 2026, is slated to speak at TOKEN2049 Singapore 2026. His presentation will focus on the evolving landscape of institutional finance and its migration onto the blockchain. His central argument is that tokenized equities represent the next significant frontier in finance, and the necessary infrastructure to support this transition is finally coming to fruition.
TOKEN2049 Singapore is scheduled to take place from October 7-8 at Marina Bay Sands. Organizers anticipate an attendance exceeding 25,000 participants, with a speaker lineup featuring over 300 industry leaders. This year’s roster notably includes a growing number of heavyweights from traditional finance, with Nasdaq and BlackRock among the confirmed institutional participants.
McCormick’s career trajectory reads like a comprehensive overview of legacy brokerage firms, having held leadership positions at Morgan Stanley, E*Trade, and eToro US before joining Chainlink Labs.
The Pillars of a New Financial Era
Across his public engagements, McCormick consistently emphasizes three core themes that he believes are reshaping financial markets:
- 24/7 Trading: This concept envisions markets that operate continuously, without closures for weekends, holidays, or even the evening commute.
- T+0 Settlement: Moving beyond finance jargon, this means that a trade’s clearing process is completed the moment it occurs. This eliminates the current state of limbo where trades remain unresolved while back-office operations reconcile paperwork.
- Programmable Collateral: This refers to collateral assets that are imbued with automated instructions. These assets can move, lock, or be released based on pre-coded rules, bypassing the need for manual human approval for transfers.
Ambitious Growth Projections
McCormick frequently cites substantial growth projections to underscore the potential of this shift. He has referenced multiple McKinsey studies that forecast the tokenized asset market could surge from its current valuation of several hundred billion dollars to an impressive $4 trillion by 2030.
Two key products are central to realizing this ambitious vision. The first is Data Streams, a solution designed to support onchain equities and ETFs for 24/7 perpetual markets. The second is the Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol, or CCIP. Recognizing that blockchains do not inherently communicate with each other, CCIP is engineered to facilitate the seamless movement of assets and messages between different blockchain networks.
Beyond Technology: Market Demand and Regulation
McCormick does not view this transformation as solely a technological advancement. He attributes the shift to evolving market demands and to supportive regulatory developments in the United States. He specifically highlights the GENIUS Act and the CLARITY Act as crucial enablers, believing these legislative measures are vital for the widespread adoption of tokenized equities.
For investors, the most significant implication is that the conversation around tokenization has moved from a question of “if” to a focus on “how.” The presence of major players like Nasdaq and BlackRock at crypto conferences, alongside former Morgan Stanley executives leading discussions on onchain equities, signals that the audience now extends far beyond crypto enthusiasts.
The advent of around-the-clock trading and instant settlement holds the potential to significantly enhance liquidity and broaden access for investors globally. This is particularly impactful for those in time zones that are currently underserved by traditional exchange operating hours.
Should tokenized assets indeed reach the $4 trillion mark as projected by McKinsey, the infrastructure providers responsible for data feeds and cross-chain asset transfers are poised to become central players in this burgeoning ecosystem. Chainlink Labs’ recruitment of McCormick, a seasoned executive from the brokerage world, to lead its institutional development efforts, clearly indicates the company’s strategic focus on targeting trading desks rather than solely DeFi users.
