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Day 1 - Mainstage Sessions

From Capitol Hill to on-chain games, these four mainstage sessions from Day 1 at Consensus 2025 revealed how crypto policy, infrastructure, and creative applications are taking shape across finance, regulation, and culture — with more sessions still to come.

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SERGEY NAZAROV, CHAINLINK – U.S. Lawmakers Are Listening: Now’s the Time to Lock In Rules That Work.

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Sergey laid out Chainlink’s three strategic goals in DC: protect DeFi’s global legitimacy, unlock institutional tokenization, and harden financial infra with proof-based standards. He was candid about the stakes: “The U.S. is a super regulator... what it decides ripples globally.” He urged the industry to capitalize on this narrow policy window before competing nations set precedent. Chainlink’s edge? Technical credibility. Their agenda includes educating Congress on proof of reserves, cross-chain security, and automated compliance as key pillars of digital financial infrastructure.

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• Chainlink is already live with Fidelity International and announced a deal with JPMorgan.
• Advocates for U.S. adoption of standards like proof of reserves and cross-chain interoperability.
• Warns that institutional adoption hinges on resolving SEC vs. CFTC oversight and market structure.
• Called on industry to “take advantage of this brief window” before global competition overtakes.

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✅ Accounting Relevance: Controllers and auditors should track developments around proof-of-reserve standards and automated compliance. If these become part of formal U.S. regulatory frameworks, audit trails and on-chain attestation will shift from optional to expected. Smart contract-based compliance will need to interface directly with subledger logic.

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NATHAN McCAULEY, ANCHORAGE DIGITAL – Compliance Is the Catalyst, Not the Constraint.

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Nathan made the case that regulatory clarity it’s strategy. From demoing Anchorage tech to the SEC in 2018 to holding a national trust charter today, he’s long bet on embracing rules early. “We actively want to seek regulation… under the careful eye of the regulator.” With stablecoin legislation close to bipartisan approval, McCauley sees an opening: establish dozens of digital asset banks—not just one. He also addressed the DHS probe rumor head-on, calling the Barron’s report BS and reaffirming Anchorage’s clean standing.

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• Anchorage was built “to be regulated”, their early demos went straight to the SEC.
• Current focus: pushing bipartisan stablecoin bill and scaling the digital banking charter model.
• Envisions a future with “dozens, if not hundreds” of digital asset banks.
• Dispelled speculation from Barron’s article: “There is no investigation into us. That is unambiguously clear.”

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✅ Accounting Relevance: The framing of digital asset banks under OCC supervision and stablecoin legislation will shape how custodial crypto assets are recorded, held, and reported. Controllers should monitor how these developments impact treatment of held assets, chartered custody providers, and crypto-to-fiat liability reconciliation.

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BO HINES, WHITE HOUSE – The U.S. Is Building the Cleanest Crypto Regulatory Environment—Fast.

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Bo Hines gave the most detailed look yet into the U.S. government’s digital asset playbook. From stablecoin legislation to a national Bitcoin reserve, the White House is “moving at tech speed” to reframe crypto as a strategic financial pillar. He confirmed that the Treasury is tasked with consolidating seized crypto assets and crafting a budget-neutral accumulation strategy. “Bitcoin is digital gold. Period. We want as much as we can possibly get.” Hines also invited industry feedback directly via the Office of Public Liaison—an open door for founders, compliance leads, and accounting execs to shape the outcome.

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• U.S. executive order mandates a national crypto reserve, with Treasury and Commerce overseeing asset management.
  
• Goal: pass both the Genius Act (stablecoins) and market structure legislation before August recess.
  
• 200+ industry meetings have shaped the White House’s legislative and rulemaking blueprint.
  
• Future summits will focus on verticals like exchanges, mining, and payments to guide sub-sector regulation.
  
  

✅ Accounting Relevance: The U.S. government’s approach to sovereign-held digital assets—particularly the creation of a national Bitcoin reserve—could shape future standards around classification, fair value measurement, and disclosures. The frameworks being defined by Treasury and Commerce could eventually influence how custodians and auditors approach crypto asset assurance and internal controls. Stablecoin legislation may also bring clearer rules for reserve backing, reconciliation, and liquidity accounting.

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Hilmar Pétursson, CEO, CCP Games – MMOs Are Running Economic Experiments That DeFi Hasn’t Caught Up To Yet.

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At Consensus 2025, CCP’s Hilmar Pétursson explained how EVE Online evolved into a 22-year live simulation of market dynamics, with real behaviors like hostile takeovers, offshore trading, and war bond issuance—all player-driven. Now with EVE: Frontier, CCP is going fully on-chain: user-created smart contracts will mod the game in real time, and assets will be tradable by design. The big move? Hiring a former central banker to co-architect the next-gen virtual economy. “It’s a dystopic, capitalistic, murder-death hellscape… and cooperation is required.”

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• Players issue war bonds, run black markets, and self-regulate value within a closed economy.
• CCP abandoned dev-created items after players rioted over “non-player made” starter packs.
• EVE: Frontier introduces on-chain modding and asset ownership via Ethereum-based contracts.
• A former Icelandic central banker now co-leads in-game monetary design for CCP’s blockchain launch

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✅ Accounting Relevance: While this session doesn't address enterprise reporting directly, the move to on-chain in-game economies—where players trade assets and issue debt—raises key questions for gaming studios. Controllers in these companies may soon need to track and classify real-money equivalents from onchain transactions. Tokenized in-game assets, and user-modified smart contracts could blur the lines between digital goods, revenue, and liabilities.

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Raine Maida, CEO of FanDrop – Web3 Still Has a Trust Problem, But the Vision for Artists Is Real.

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Raine Maida, lead singer of Our Lady Peace and founder of FanDrop, offered a candid view on Web3’s promise and pitfalls from an artist-entrepreneur’s lens. After launching an IP-protection platform with Sing and exploring NFTs, Maida hit a wall with fan trust: “They started asking, ‘Is this a rug?’” He’s since paused minting but remains bullish on blockchain’s role in solving music industry pain points—especially fan data ownership, royalty transparency, and resale protections via smart contracts.

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“Shares, likes, and follows do not pay for the gas in our tractor trailers.”

• FanDrop enables direct-to-fan relationships with portable fan data.
• Blockchain-powered ticketing could eliminate fraud, cap price gouging, and enforce resale royalties.
• Platforms like BeatDapp use blockchain to detect fraud in global music streaming.
• Web3’s failure was in the tech and its complexity: “Asking fans to get a wallet was a friction point.”

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✅ Accounting Relevance: This session doesn’t touch accounting or financial reporting directly. However, it highlights operational changes that could eventually impact revenue streams and backend processes for music companies. For example, NFT-based ticket resale with built-in royalties could create complexities around deferred revenue, revenue recognition timing, and tracking off-chain vs. on-chain royalties. Still, these implications weren’t addressed explicitly in the session.

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‍ADRIENNE HARRIS, NEW YORK DEPARTMENT OF FINANCIAL SERVICES – New York’s Crypto Oversight Is Influencing Global Rulemaking
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Adrienne Harris described how the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) has become a model for crypto regulation, shaping policies beyond the state. Since 2021, NYDFS has expanded its virtual currency team from 3 to 60 people, introduced nine formal guidance documents, and enforced licensing standards that prevented firms like FTX and Celsius from operating in the state. “There isn’t a version of any bill—House or Senate, Republican or Democrat—that doesn’t come to us for feedback,” she noted. The department's stablecoin requirements, including full backing and redemption rules, are now informing legislation in both the United States and abroad.

• NYDFS regulates ~3,000 financial institutions holding nearly $10 trillion in assets
• The agency’s stablecoin rules mandate full reserves and prohibit rehypothecation (re-use of customer funds)
• DFS now collaborates formally with international regulators like the Bank of England
• Crypto firms licensed in New York promote their compliance status in foreign markets

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✅ Accounting Relevance: Controllers at licensed virtual currency businesses in New York are required to maintain clear reporting on stablecoin reserves, redemption timelines, and capital adequacy. This includes reconciling custodial wallet balances to customer liabilities, documenting reserve holdings, and preparing audit-ready disclosures. As other regulators adopt similar rules, accounting teams could face growing pressure to unify these controls across jurisdictions.

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Lucas Matheson, CEO, Coinbase Canada – Canada needs crypto leadership at the federal level, not just regulation.

Lucas Matheson called out Canada’s absence of national crypto leadership and outlined six policy actions to ensure it doesn't fall behind global peers. He stressed the urgency of appointing a federal crypto coordinator, creating a national strategy, and regulating stablecoins as money—not securities. “We have a square peg, round hole, legal definitional problem in Canada,” he said, referencing the overlap of 13 securities regulators. His core message: Canada has technical talent, but without political champions, crypto adoption will stall.

• Advocated for a federal task force within 100 days and a clear crypto asset taxonomy.
• 15% of Canadians are underbanked—crypto could improve access to financial tools.
• Stablecoins traded 3x the volume of Visa last year; Canada lacks a CAD-denominated stablecoin.
• Coinbase invested in QCAD to offer a compliant Canadian stablecoin option.

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✅ Accounting Relevance: Moderate. The session highlights Canada's need to classify crypto assets, especially stablecoins, within a modern financial framework. This directly affects tax treatment, payment reconciliation, and custodial practices for institutions. Controllers operating in or with Canada may soon face jurisdiction-specific rules requiring reclassification of assets previously treated under generic securities law.

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Yat Siu, Animoca Brands – Financial literacy, not UX, is holding Web3 back

Yat Siu compared the current state of Web3 to the internet in 2003—early in promise, but stalled by a literacy gap. He argued that widespread adoption won’t come from better wallets or user interfaces, but from “financial literacy.” According to Yat, “Every person who's in Web3 is quite financially literate… the ones who tend to reject it are the ones who actually don't have a good relationship with money.” His forecast: in 2–3 years, we could hit an inflection point, if education scales.

• Only ~15% of Americans directly own equities—Web3 adoption is facing the same curve.
  
• Blockchain gaming sees ~7M daily active users, most of today’s on-chain utility.
  
• Animoca has over 573 portfolio companies; new focus areas include reputation (Mochaverse) and education (Open Campus).
  
• The student loan market is $3T—putting even 10% of that on-chain would 4x DeFi’s TVL.

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