Last winter, I found myself at a dinner party in the city. It was a mixed crowd, by which I mean people who understood my work, those who didn’t, or those who were skeptical of it. I’m a crypto lawyer and policy advocate, so I’m used to questions like: Are you a lawyer for Bitcoin? And do you even use a bank?

As we all know, the crypto industry had been rocked at the end of 2022, which meant I fielded more questions than usual. At one point, a friend pulled me aside and asked, “Is this the end of crypto? Are you okay?”

Now, a year later, I can answer with confidence: Not only was it not the end, but 2023 was also actually good for crypto. I’m more committed to this space than ever, and going into 2024, I’m assured that the technology will persist — that crypto is here to stay — even in the face of repeated negative press, continued naysayers, and persistent global regulatory pressure.

The optimist’s case for crypto is simple: Technical maturity is occurring in tandem with regulatory headway and wider adoption.

But to be an optimist in crypto is actually to be a realist, to acknowledge not only the exciting developments we see entering 2024, but also the challenges we must take head-on in the year ahead. I call this approach “crypto optimist realism”: an acknowledgment of both how far we have come and how far we have to go.

Even if 2023 exceeded the expectations of optimists like myself, it does not mean that 2024 will be a cakewalk. In fact, in the three issues that matter most to crypto — technical advancement, regulatory progress, and adoption — the tailwinds taking us into 2024 will be met with continued headwinds we must overcome to progress into a mature industry.

The technology advanced faster than anyone imagined. Now we need to show why that matters.

In the wake of centralized “crypto-in-name-only” financial collapses, 2