Ah, January 1, the time for throwing out the last mouldering leftovers of the Christmas turkey and vowing to lead healthier, better lives. The world of blockchain and cryptocurrency is no exception, so we asked some of the space’s leaders what they’re doing to ensure that 2020 is a bumper year for distributed ledgers, decentralization and more.
“At Ledger, our New Year's resolution is to continue educating the market on the importance of securing your digital assets and reinforcing the idea that once you have real value, you need to have real security. This goes beyond bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies to connected devices and IoT. It's vital for people to understand this in order for the industry to grow and mature, and we're going to do everything we can to help with this education.”
Pascal Gauthier, CEO of Ledger (@_pgauthier)
Ledger is a manufacturer of cryptocurrency hardware wallets
“The theme for blockchain in 2020 should be "embrace the boring". When it becomes boring and still has utility, then we know it's something. Just like Java; we had whole Java marketing teams in 1998—and by the year 2000, 2001, those marketing teams were gone and it was just a programming language. But object oriented programming still had a lot of utility; there were 2 million Java developers, last time I checked. So it's boring; now, you don't have a C++ marketing team, you don't have a Java marketing team, but it's useful. When blockchain turns that corner, and lots of people are still using it for stuff: that's when you know it works.”
John Wolpert, co-founder, ConsenSys web3studio (@jwolpert)
web3studio is bootstrapping the distributed web as part of ConsenSys (which funds an editorially-independent Decrypt)
“Through Square and Docker, I've had the privilege of building infrastructure that helps to serve users on a global scale. My resolution for 2020 is to achieve the same with Anchorage, by enabling institutional investors to participate in the launch of new currencies with active users in the tens of millions.”
Diogo Mónica, president and co-founder of Anchorage (@diogomonica)
Anchorage is an institutional-grade custodian
“Market education is still a major priority in my mind. That'd make my life a lot easier. That would make all of my competitors' lives and all my partners' lives easier. So that's a big thing - and we're trying to do our part there.
If I could have one thing be true in a year from now, I would really like to be able to start a conversation with a baseline of accurate information - or a baseline of no information, but the biggest thing is overcoming misinformation, which is really prevalent. It's extremely prevalent in enterprises, it's extremely prevalent - decreasingly, but still extremely prevalent - in financial institutions.”
Chris Lawlor, co-founder, TQ Tezos
TQ Tezos is working to advance the Tezos ecosystem by creating open source software, providing support to projects building on Tezos, and connecting the global Tezos community
“The rise of hubs, platforms and systems have released a tsunami of global commercial and consumer value creation. But much of this growth has been organic or opportunistic and, as such, contained within a too-limited group of companies.
“We must choose wisely in 2020, a fork in the road—otherwise blockchain technology will fall short of its awesome potential to do good in the world.
“Empowering blockchain: done well, it is a fundamental building block of a transparent value chain, making it easier for stakeholders to stay compliant, to drive efficiencies and to create unique value propositions in increasingly competitive global markets.
“With the right regulation, blockchain will benefit the widest number of people in the fairest way. But, if we create fractured systems, with a hyper-focus on efficiency rather than transparency, blockchain risks losing the trust it can create. In the wrong hands, it could be used to exploit trust and mislead and curb freedoms.”
Leanne Kemp, CEO, Everledger (@leanne_kemp)
Everledger is developing and maintaining an immutable ledger for asset ownership and supply chain transparency across industries including the gem trade, fine art and minerals
“I’d like to be able to offer eToro employees the option of having their salaries paid in crypto next year. There is a consensus that projects like Libra can help facilitate workers in the gig economy, but there’s no reason why employees who receive a regular wage shouldn’t also have the option of being paid in crypto. How you then spend it is another issue, but we’re seeing more and more businesses and services accepting crypto as payment.”
Iqbal Gandham, UK MD, eToro (@IqbalGandham)
eToro is a multi-asset social trading platform
“I want people to use crypto as payment, I want people to start using more privacy apps, and start paying with Lightning.”
Phil Chen, crypto chief officer, HTC (@philchen913)
Taiwanese smartphone manufacturer HTC has produced the Exodus line of “blockchain phones”
“Orbs wants to see significant problems of today’s Internet like fake news and fake user profiles being tackled using public blockchain technology. We believe that blockchain-based solutions will help solve the problem of verifying data online.”
Tal Kol, co-founder, Orbs (@koltal)
Orbs is a blockchain for enterprise applications that uses trust as the next layer of competition
“The ultimate goal of Decred is to become a true, functioning Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO). This requires that all stakeholders in the community have a voice in project-level decisions, rather than just one person or a select few who have the authority. In 2020, my resolution is to continue engineering away my authority and developing systems that create a fairer game for all. Any project committed to the decentralized ethos behind crypto should also walk the talk, and find ways to remove hegemons.”
Jake Yocom-Piatt, co-founder and project lead, Decred (@behindtext)
Decred is a community-directed digital currency with built-in governance designed to be a long-term store of value
“In 2020, maybe the Fed will stop printing money and buy some Bitcoin. We always promise ourselves we will lose weight (volatility) and exercise more by adding real utility. We will find the good things about everyone (after they buy their first BTC) and stop saying bad things about other projects. 2020 is here now so stop waiting for the future and Unbank yourself.”
Alex Mashinsky, CEO of Celsius Network (@Mashinsky)
Celsius Network is a crypto lending platform
“To spend less time at crypto events and more time in other communities. I think we are stuck in an echo chamber. I don't need to evangelise to people who already believe in crypto; I need to interact with people outside this industry and get better at connecting ideas from different parts of what's happening in the world. We don't do a very good job of that. I think we can be extremely insular at times and we’d benefit from more of an integrated, multidisciplinary approach.”
Meltem Demirors, chief strategy officer, Coinshares (@Melt_Dem)
Coinshares is a digital asset management firm