Understand how Steve’s traditional finance roots shape RYT’s mission to build secure, compliant, and enterprise-ready blockchain infrastructure
Steve, what motivated your shift from traditional finance into blockchain, and how has that background influenced your approach to building financial infrastructure at RYT?
Coming from traditional finance, I spent a lot of time working on risk management, governance, and efficiency. What became clear is that legacy infrastructure is failing in those areas as the economy continues to transition to a more fully digital one. Blockchain offered a way to modernize that foundation, to bring transparency, speed, and accountability into how value moves.
At RYT, we’re applying that same discipline. The goal isn’t to reinvent finance for the sake of disruption, but to engineer trust into digital infrastructure from the ground up. My background has taught me that technology only matters if institutions can depend on it and users want to use it, and that’s exactly the mindset we bring to building at RYT.
Why do you believe purpose-built Layer 1 blockchains are critical for scaling real-world digital services, especially in sectors like finance, identity, and supply chain?
General-purpose and layer 2 chains weren’t designed with the performance, governance, or compliance needs of regulated industries in mind. Finance, identity, and supply chain applications require predictable fees, high throughput, privacy controls, and native identity frameworks, all of which are difficult to achieve on legacy, one-size-fits-all networks. A purpose-built Layer 1 like RYT can optimize consensus, transaction logic, and data models specifically for these use cases, enabling faster settlement, verifiable transparency, and integration with existing legal and institutional systems. In short, specialization at the base layer is what makes blockchain infrastructure truly enterprise-ready.
In your view, what does it truly mean to make a blockchain “enterprise-ready”? How do governance, security, and compliance factor into that equation?
Enterprise-ready means it works within the rules that businesses and regulators already live by. It also means to be dependable, transparent, secure, governed responsibly, and can scale efficiently. Governance is about accountability. Security must be intrinsic, not added later. And compliance needs to be automated, traceable, and adaptable to different jurisdictions. At RYT, those aren’t layers we add on top, they’re part of the design. That’s what gives institutions confidence to build on-chain.
As institutions increasingly adopt blockchain, what are the key compliance and regulatory concerns they must navigate—and how can technology help rather than hinder this process?
Institutions worry about control, liability, and data privacy. Regulators want assurance that the same safeguards that exist off-chain also exist on-chain. The key is to design technology that meets those requirements natively.
Blockchain can help by providing auditability, real-time reporting, and automated policy enforcement. When compliance is coded into the system rather than managed through paperwork, it becomes a strength, not an obstacle.
We’re seeing growing interest in stablecoins and tokenized digital assets across banking, fintech, and capital markets. What are the primary drivers behind this institutional shift?
It’s a natural evolution. Institutions are realizing that blockchain can provide faster settlement, better liquidity, and improved transparency, all while allowing the Institutions to maintain control and regulatory clarity.
Stablecoins and tokenized assets bridge traditional and decentralized finance. They allow institutions to represent real-world value on-chain, manage risk more precisely, and expand access to capital markets in new ways. It’s about operational efficiency and modernization.
RYT sits at the intersection of digital trust and innovation. How do you balance the need for rapid technological progress with the responsibility to build within regulatory and ethical frameworks?
You can’t build trust if you cut corners. At RYT, innovation is guided by responsibility to our users, to regulators, and to the systems that rely on us.
We’re moving fast, but we’re doing it with clear governance, rigorous testing, and open collaboration with policymakers and industry partners. Innovation and trust aren’t opposites — they reinforce each other when done right. That’s how you build infrastructure that lasts.
What lessons have you learned in developing blockchain infrastructure that meets the performance and reliability standards of enterprise users?
Performance matters, but I believe that reliability and predictability matter more. Enterprises don’t adopt technology that fails under pressure or lacks accountability.
RYT’s architecture reflects that. We use distributed validation under Proof of Majority to eliminate single points of failure and provide deterministic finality. The system behaves like critical infrastructure should. It’s stable, transparent, and built for longevity.
How do you see the future of blockchain governance evolving, especially when it comes to balancing decentralization with the accountability enterprises require?
I think the future is hybrid, a balance between open participation and structured accountability. Pure decentralization doesn’t work for enterprise or public-sector use; there has to be oversight and clear governance pathways.
Proof of Majority is a good example of where governance is heading. It creates a democratic consensus model that still enforces accountability. Everyone has a voice, but no single actor can dominate. That’s how you scale trust, by combining inclusion with control.
Looking ahead, what technologies or trends do you think will accelerate the real-world adoption of blockchain and digital assets over the next 2–3 years?
I would say I see greater convergence between blockchain, AI, and digital identity. The more seamlessly these technologies integrate, the easier it becomes to build real-world applications that people and institutions can use without even thinking about the underlying tech.
Clearer regulation will also accelerate adoption. Once institutions know the rules of the road, they’ll move faster. The real question won’t be “should we use blockchain?” but “which network gives us the governance and trust we need?”
What advice would you give to leaders navigating the intersection of traditional and decentralized finance today?
Stay grounded in principles. The fundamentals of finance — governance, risk management, and accountability — still apply. The opportunity is to use new technology to strengthen those principles, not abandon them. My advice is to focus on where blockchain genuinely improves trust and efficiency. Avoid ideology. Build bridges, not barriers, between old systems and new ones. The future belongs to those who can combine innovation with responsibility; that’s where sustainable value is created.
A quote or advice from the author
“Don’t chase the hype. Focus on solving real problems and earning people’s trust. Technology only matters when it makes life simpler, safer, and more connected. That’s what lasting innovation looks like.”
