Chainlink Co-Founder Sergey Nazarov Joins CFTC Advisory Committee

Sergey Nazarov, co-founder of Chainlink, was appointed to the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission's (CFTC) Innovation Advisory Committee in February 2026. Born in Moscow in 1986, he moved to New York with his parents at a young age and graduated from NYU in 2007.

Nazarov's early career involved several roles connected by mentorship and timing, including an internship-in-residence at FirstMark Capital, where he presented potential investments to the partnership. During this period, he also co-founded ExistLocal, a peer-to-peer marketplace for local experiences.

In 2011, Nazarov founded QED Capital, an early-stage venture fund, and later co-founded SmartContract.com with Steve Ellis in September 2014. The company developed a decentralized oracle network that connects smart contracts to external data, which would eventually become Chainlink in June 2017.

Nazarov has argued that blockchain technology addresses structural problems such as information asymmetries and the lack of basic financial infrastructure in emerging markets. He believes Chainlink's underlying infrastructure could serve as a public good, comparing its significance to that of a postal service or an interstate highway system.