Digital Asset co-founder and CEO Yuval Rooz has urged the crypto industry to use the current regulatory window to drive institutional blockchain adoption so deeply into financial infrastructure that no future US administration can unwind it, citing the November 7, 2028 presidential election as the deadline that matters.

Speaking on a panel at Token2049 in Singapore, Rooz said the industry's task is to make blockchain so widely used that whatever happens at the next election, "there is no going back." The next US presidential vote, which could shift regulatory priorities across the SEC and CFTC, is scheduled for Nov. 7, 2028.

He drew a direct parallel to Uber and Airbnb, arguing that both consumer platforms achieved market entrenchment before legislators could effectively constrain them. "By the time people got their act together and decided, OK, we wanna legislate against those companies, it was too late," Rooz said. His argument: crypto should replicate that dynamic while the regulatory climate remains favorable.

What happened to the CLARITY Act?

The comments land after the CLARITY Act, the market-structure bill that would split digital-asset oversight between the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, failed to advance in a Senate procedural vote in September. In the absence of legislation, both agencies have pushed ahead with crypto rulemaking under their existing authority — a framework that a future administration could reinterpret or reverse.

That institutional fragility shaped the rest of the panel. Binance co-CEO Richard Teng said he still hopes the CLARITY Act becomes law, arguing that statutory certainty would prevent regulatory backtracking and give institutions the confidence to enter the market. He described the possibility of reversing current progress as "the biggest fear" for the industry.

Franklin Templeton CEO Jenny Johnson took a more measured position. Legislation would provide greater certainty, she said, but the industry should not depend on the CLARITY Act passing. In her assessment, the SEC and CFTC are already delivering regulatory clarity through their individual initiatives, and that work is sufficient to keep institutional adoption and innovation moving forward without a statutory backstop.

Why the 2028 election frames the strategy

The strategic difference between the three executives comes down to time horizons. Rooz wants adoption locked in before the electoral cycle can reset policy. Teng wants legislation to codify the current framework permanently. Johnson is prepared to operate under agency-level rulemaking alone.

For institutions weighing blockchain deployments, the panel signals a shift in how the industry frames regulatory risk: from lobbying for favorable rules toward building operational dependence on the technology before the window narrows. Rooz's Canton network, developed by Digital Asset for institutional financial markets, is positioned squarely in that adoption race.

The practical question for the sector is whether agency-level clarity plus commercial entrenchment can survive a change of administration without statutory cover — a question the Senate's September procedural vote left unresolved and the November 2028 election will ultimately answer.