Building Bridges In Crypto: Lessons In Innovation with Hany Rashwan

We recently sat down with 21.co, parent company of 21Shares, CEO and Co-Founder, Hany Rashwan , to discuss his founder journey in the fintech world on the Inside Crypto by 21.co podcast. Hany unpacked the numerous lessons he has learned over the course of his founder journey – emphasizing the role that adopting a long-term perspective has had in his ventures’ success.

“The first company I ever did, I dropped out of school to do it. And, that’s actually the worst way of doing anything. I think most people, especially younger founders, don’t think in the long-term” - Hany Rashwan

Though Hany found success in following this path early in his career, he learned from this pivotal experience and began to approach problems with a different vision later on. “When you think about things on a longer time horizon, you can still be ruthlessly hungry and aggressive about a bigger #vision while protecting the downside of wasting too much time,” he shared. At 21.co , the core business objective is to build bridges into the #crypto world – not an easy feat. Building products that are safe, sustainable, and accessible to people on a #global scale is a massive undertaking and not something that will be accomplished overnight, “Something monumental is not going to be done in just one year or two. If you’re thinking larger, in five-year increments, you’re trying to do something much bigger.” In just less than five years, Hany has led the team at 21.co to grow its product suite from one to 41 offerings across 22 countries with no plans of stopping.

A Long-Term Vision for Crypto 

Despite industry events in 2022, Hany remains confident about the future of crypto. “I am pleasantly surprised by where we are as an industry, given a lot of the turmoil that has happened and a lot of the upcoming turmoil that we see,” Hany shared – while also alluding to the fact that it may take months or even years for us to fully understand FTX’s collapse. In addition to adopting a long-term vision as a company leader, he highlights the importance of adopting this perspective as an investor as well. Though crypto is currently trudging through a bear market, we know that a market recovery is on the horizon. Crypto winter may not be as exciting as a bull market’s price movement, but it is just as important. At 21.co, this time is being used to #build, #innovate, and focus on the end goal.

Remaining Thesis-Driven Will Help You Succeed Where Others Do Not

Knowing your ‘why’ is valuable but being thesis-driven, with a strong argument for your conviction, is what will drive you to success in an ever-changing industry like crypto. Hany shares that he absolutely remains thesis-driven in his work, alluding to 21.co’s ambitious goals for expansion and product launches for the year. Many in the industry remain thesis-driven too, pointing to the continued shipment of many projects on the Solana blockchain. Hany ended the podcast episode by sharing the famous Lao Tzu phrase: “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” The #journey we foresee for the crypto industry and 21.co is long, but that is the point. This ongoing bear market gives the company time to build better products that solve problems we see across the industry. Monumental change is achieved through consistent effort, and we are just as optimistic and focused as ever on bringing the next one million people into crypto. 

To listen to the full interview with Hany Rashwan , tune in to the newest episode of the Inside Crypto Podcast on YouTube or your preferred streaming channel!

This information is not financial advice. The information contained herein may not be considered as economic, legal, tax, or other advice. The information provided in this post also does not constitute a prospectus or other offering material and does not contain or constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of any offer to buy financial instruments in any jurisdiction.