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The official CEO.com podcast featuring unfiltered conversations with the leaders shaping our world.
Clint Betts: Jerald, thank you so much for coming on the show. What an honor to have you. You’re the CEO of Lynq. Tell us what Lynq is and how you became the CEO.
Jerald David: Hi, Clint. It’s great to be with you today. I’m really looking forward to the conversation and sharing more with your audience.
Lynq is a real-time settlement platform created through a partnership of companies with deep expertise in technology, asset management, and broker-dealer services.
A few years ago, several providers that offered settlement services through banks exited the market. That created an opportunity.
We realized we could build a similar settlement platform outside of the traditional banking infrastructure by using a broker-dealer framework instead.
Today, Lynq is a blockchain-based settlement network that facilitates the movement of value between trusted counterparties.
Initially, we focused on digital assets, helping firms settle trades, fund exchanges, and move capital more efficiently.
But the platform has expanded beyond that.
Customers now use Lynq for funding derivatives exchanges, trade finance, and other capital movement use cases.
At its core, Lynq is a settlement system that allows trusted counterparties to transact in real time while also returning yield and interest to users who keep funds on the platform.
Clint Betts: Tell me where blockchain stands today.
A few years ago everyone was talking about Web3. Now everyone is talking about AI.
Blockchain certainly hasn’t gone away.
How do you see the current state of the industry?
Jerald David: I’ve been working in digital assets for about eight years now, and I’ve watched the narrative evolve several times.
Back in 2017 and 2018, everyone talked about blockchain, not crypto.
Then it flipped, and suddenly everyone talked about crypto instead of blockchain.
More recently, the conversation shifted toward RWAs, or real-world assets—things like tokenized real estate or tokenized Treasury funds.
Now, much of the public conversation has shifted again toward AI.
What’s interesting is that institutional adoption has continued throughout all of those cycles.
From the beginning, large financial institutions understood the value of blockchain itself—the transparency, the security, the ability to transfer value efficiently.
What they weren’t necessarily interested in were speculative assets like meme coins.
The real opportunity has always been the underlying infrastructure.
Today, with regulatory progress and growing institutional participation, I think we’re entering another important phase.
Retail attention may have shifted elsewhere for the moment, but based on what I’m seeing, institutional adoption is accelerating.
I think that lull in attention will prove to be very temporary.
Clint Betts: How do you think about market structure, regulation, and overall risk?
Jerald David: That’s really what excites me.
At Lynq, we’re building infrastructure.
Infrastructure isn’t just useful for digital assets.
It can serve people moving money between Mexico and the United States.
It can support derivatives markets.
It can facilitate capital movement across many different financial systems.
Our goal is to build infrastructure that works not only in the United States but also in Europe, Asia, and other regulated markets.
Ultimately, we’re trying to build one of the foundational pieces of the future financial system.
Clint Betts: What were you doing before Lynq? What led you into this industry?
Jerald David: There are really two answers.
Within digital assets, I previously helped launch an exchange through an ICO and later worked at another company focused on using blockchain technology for digital identity.
Before that, my career was spent building financial market infrastructure.
I worked at exchanges like CME Group and NYMEX during the transition from open outcry trading to electronic trading.
I helped create technologies like ClearPort, which allowed over-the-counter transactions to be novated into clearinghouses.
Later, I helped build exchanges in both the United Kingdom and Dubai.
Looking back, there’s a consistent theme.
Almost every company I’ve worked for has focused on building lasting financial infrastructure.
Clint Betts: What does a typical day look like for you as CEO?
Jerald David: Digital assets operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Because of that, our communication tools are different from what many traditional businesses use.
We’re constantly connected through Telegram, Signal, Slack, email, and our phones.
My day usually starts very early.
The first thing I do is catch up on everything that happened overnight, particularly since many of our partners and customers are operating in different time zones.
After that, I head into the office.
One thing I would probably change in the future is not having my office within walking distance of my house.
It makes it incredibly easy to go in early and stay late.
Clint Betts: That’s funny.
I recently interviewed another CEO who intentionally built his house right next to his office for exactly that reason.
He said it was great because it was only a minute away, but he also admitted it made him work much longer hours.
Jerald David: Exactly.
The unintended consequence is that you never really leave work.
You know you’ve got a problem when your dog walker starts dropping your dog off at the office in the afternoon because that’s where they know you’ll be.
Clint Betts: I have a blockchain question that might get into the weeds.
Quantum computing seems to be advancing rapidly.
How are you thinking about quantum and blockchain?
Jerald David: The first thing that interests me is the effort to commoditize quantum computing itself.
People are already exploring ways to create financial markets around quantum technology, including regulated futures products.
I find that fascinating.
My interest is really in understanding how you create financial instruments around emerging technologies—not necessarily for speculation, but for risk management.
It reminds me of when people first started discussing markets around water rights years ago.
At first, the idea seemed unusual.
Eventually, it became understandable.
I think quantum is following a similar path.
Clint Betts: What inefficiencies does Lynq solve?
Jerald David: There are quite a few.
The biggest one is the mismatch between how financial markets operate and how banks operate.
Banks are open only certain hours of the day.
Financial markets increasingly never close.
That disconnect creates enormous friction.
Take derivatives trading as an example.
The CME Group and Intercontinental Exchange are two of the largest derivatives exchanges in the world.
Now imagine you’re a trader living in Japan.
You have to stay awake during U.S. market hours to participate.
As technology evolves, trading itself is becoming increasingly available 24/7.
Companies like Hyperliquid are already offering decentralized exchanges where users can trade tokenized equities, tokenized commodities, and digital assets around the clock.
That naturally puts pressure on traditional exchanges to evolve.
The problem is funding.
If it’s midnight Eastern Time and you need to add collateral to a position, you can’t simply send a bank wire because banks are closed.
Distributed ledger technology solves that problem.
It allows money to move continuously.
That’s the gap Lynq is helping close.
Clint Betts: That’s really helpful.
Maybe give us a Blockchain 101 explanation.
What does it actually mean to tokenize something?
Maybe use gold as an example.
How do you know the token you own actually represents real gold?
Jerald David: Gold is a great example.
Another useful example is stablecoins because they’re becoming so widely used.
A stablecoin is essentially a digital representation of a U.S. dollar.
If someone sends $100 to an approved issuer, that issuer places the funds into a regulated account and mints 100 digital tokens representing those dollars.
The important principle is that every token is backed one-for-one by real assets.
The reserves are audited and publicly verified.
Once those tokens exist, they can be transferred instantly between digital wallets.
The same concept applies to gold.
Suppose someone purchases $100 worth of tokenized gold.
The issuer purchases and stores the corresponding amount of physical gold in a secure vault.
The blockchain token represents ownership of that gold.
Because everything is transparent, you can verify how much gold exists, how many tokens have been issued, and—if desired—even redeem your tokens for the underlying asset.
It’s really similar to a digital warehouse receipt.
Instead of owning a paper certificate, you own a blockchain token that represents a claim on a real-world asset.
Clint Betts: That’s a really helpful explanation.
As these assets become tokenized, governments obviously have to think differently.
How do you think governments respond as tokenization becomes more common?
Jerald David: The first step is creating clear regulation, which is exactly what we’re seeing.
The United States was actually slower than many other parts of the world in establishing regulatory frameworks.
Once those rules exist, adoption becomes the next question.
One interesting example is Project Guardian from JPMorgan.
Imagine rebalancing your 401(k).
Today you log into a website, request changes, and then multiple intermediaries process those transactions behind the scenes.
Tokenization could eliminate much of that complexity.
Instead of asking someone else to execute those trades for you, ownership could transfer directly through blockchain infrastructure.
It removes layers of friction while making settlement much faster.
Clint Betts: That’s a great explanation.
Looking more broadly, how are you thinking about the macroeconomic environment?
Jerald David: Stablecoins actually illustrate an interesting point.
Today, well over 99% of all stablecoins are denominated in U.S. dollars.
That means people around the world are buying dollars in order to participate.
From the perspective of central banks, that’s actually a meaningful advantage because it reinforces the global role of the U.S. dollar.
So while people often ask whether digital assets threaten the dollar, they can also strengthen demand for it.
It’s a much more nuanced conversation than many people realize.
Clint Betts: Finally, we end every interview the same way.
At CEO.com, we believe the chances one gives are just as important as the chances one takes.
When you hear that, who gave you a chance that helped get you where you are today?
Jerald David: I’d actually mention three people.
When we formed Lynq, it was created as a joint venture between ARCA, Tacit, and tZERO.
The CEOs of those organizations—Alan Kanefsky, Rain Steinberg, and Glenn Sussman—placed their trust in me to lead the company.
They believed in the vision we shared and empowered me to build what we believe will become an important piece of financial infrastructure.
I’m incredibly grateful for the confidence they placed in me.
Clint Betts: Well, it’s amazing what you’re building.
Thank you so much for coming on the show. It’s been a real pleasure.
Jerald David: Clint, thank you so much for having me. It’s been great to be with you today.