It's fair to say that 2020 was not the year we were expecting when we made our New Year's Resolutions last December. The coronavirus pandemic swept across the world, disrupting lives and ways of working, in many cases permanently. Unprecedented economic shocks jolted markets around the world, while Bitcoin surged to record highs.

Some of last year's resolutions came to pass. HTC chief crypto officer Phil Chen wanted people "to use crypto as payment," and with PayPal enabling purchases using crypto, that looks to have come to pass.

Other people made resolutions that did pan out… but perhaps not quite in the way that their writers intended. Meltem Demirors, chief strategy officer at Coinshares, wanted "To spend less time at crypto events and more time in other communities." Well, the first half came true, at least, with crypto events around the world postponed or canceled thanks to the coronavirus.

And Ledger CEO Pascal Gauthier wanted "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." Following the hack of Ledger's e-commerce database, its subsequent dumping on a public forum, and the threatening messages received by Ledger customers, it's fair to say they have a new appreciation of the need for security.

So, as we mark the New Year, let's see what crypto and blockchain leaders are hoping for in 2021…

"I think, grow out FTX, grow out Serum as much as possible, is the answer. And see how big they can get, and see how much they can take on."

Sam Bankman-Fried, CEO at FTX (@SBF_Alameda)

FTX is a cryptocurrency derivatives exchange.

"To attract new users with world-beating crypto meme game."

Michael O'Rourke, CEO at Pocket Network (@o_rourke)

Pocket Network is a blockchain relay network on a mission mission to ensure the sustainable decentralization of blockchain infrastructure.

“Continuing to hold onto Bitcoin with every temptation to sell it at a new all-time high. Just to remember that we have seen, time and again, new all-time highs. This thing is going to continue to perform in the way it has. Keep that in mind and not selling it will be my crypto new year's resolution.”

Antoni Trenchev, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Nexo (@AntoniNexo)

Nexo is a crypto loans platform that offers the world's first instant crypto credit lines.

"Keep building, keep hodling, and keep on keeping on."

Tim Bos, CEO & Co-Founder of ShareRing (@TheRealTimBos)

ShareRing is a decentralized sharing economy and self-sovereign identity platform.

  1. Eat (and buy) more vegetables. With monumental validation of real and robust financial models supported by incentives and decentralization, DeFi’s hyperbolic growth is only getting started.

  2. Listen to developers. Core infrastructure that further enables builders in the space and makes the lives of developers easier will become increasingly important. Products like Biconomy for pure crypto networks, and Sextant across enterprise networks validate the incredible value to be uncovered from offering developers real tools that accelerate the adoption of blockchain.

  3. Be more selective. With the incredible influx of institutional capital and a growing saturation of investment opportunities, investors should remember that while the pie is getting bigger, the game only gets more competitive from here. Keeping our standards high when supporting disruptive ideas will remain the best way to stay on top of this nascent industry, along with boosting our bottom line.

Lior Messika, Founder and Managing Partner at Eden Block (@Lior_Messika)

Eden Block is a research-focused EU VC Fund focused on disruptive blockchain technology implementations.

  1. To resist the FOMO on new tokens and DeFi projects; everything that sounds too good to be true usually is.

  2. To stay away from government-issued cryptocurrencies.

  3. To make investment decisions based on facts rather than hype and hot air."

Johannes Schweifer, CEO of CoreLedger 

CoreLedger is a platform empowering businesses of all sizes to seamlessly, quickly and affordably access the benefits of blockchain technology.

"Buy more ETH."

Lucas Huang, Head of Growth at TokenIon

TokenIon is a decentralised exchange powered by 0x protocol.

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