By Paul Quickenden, Swyftx New Zealand Country Manager

Dear Santa,

It’s me again - the only crypto person at the family Christmas table. You know, the one Aunt Margaret corners every year with: “So… isn’t it all a scam?”

Since you’re making your rounds, I thought I’d submit my annual wish list on behalf of crypto investors everywhere.

We’ve been (mostly) good this year - we’ve survived volatility, tariff drama, sideways markets, regulatory zig-zags and at least six separate predictions of “the end of crypto”.

So surely, we deserve at least one stocking stuffer…

Here’s what we’re hoping for under the tree and in 2026…

1. A Christmas forcefield against ‘crypto conversation ambushes’

You know the drill. You’ve just sat down with a plate of ham and roast potatoes when Uncle Gary leans in with: “So when’s Bitcoin going to zero?”

Or Aunt Margaret launches her yearly monologue: “My neighbour’s cat lost money in crypto, so I think the whole thing is a Ponzi.”

This year, please grant every crypto investor:

● A 30-second forcefield after sitting down…

● A conversation deflector that auto-responds with: “Blockchain is like the internet. Yes, some people used it badly. No, that doesn’t make your emails a scam.”

And most importantly, the willpower not to pull out price charts at Christmas lunch.

(Sidenote: If you’re a crypto holder heading into the holidays, here’s your survival guide for Aunt Margaret:

● “Isn’t it a scam?” - everything risky sounds like a scam until it’s mainstream.

● “Why doesn’t the price always go up?” - if it did, we’d call it magic beans, not an asset class.

● “Should I buy some?” - only if you’ve got a plan, not because I’m trapped next to you with a cracker hat on.

Smile. Breathe. Pass the pavlova. You survived another cycle. You can survive your family too.)

2. A government that finally knows its… organisation from its regulation

I’ll keep it polite…mostly.

All we want for Christmas is a government that:

● Understands the difference between crypto, blockchain, tokens and a PDF someone emailed them.

● Can explain its policy position without needing a whiteboard and divine intervention.

● Doesn’t create some funky New Zealand only rule that we have to adhere to.

Ideally, in NZ, we’d love a regulatory framework that matches the rest of the world…or at least doesn’t actively work against innovation.

Too much to ask?
It might be…
But it’s Christmas.


3. A year of economic growth…without all the downside surprises

If you can manage it, Santa, we’d love:

● Steady employment.

● Predictable policy settings.

● A central bank that doesn’t panic every time inflation twitches.

● A cool head from a certain President

Crypto thrives on clarity and so do businesses and households everywhere. We’re not asking for perfect economies… just ones that don’t throw a new plot twist every quarter.

4. One year where crypto news moves at human speed

Just one.

A year where major updates don’t arrive faster than people can read them and where investors get a chance to understand what’s happening before the next thing happens…and the next.

Crypto doesn’t need fewer innovations - it just needs a pace that doesn’t require every investor to have the reflexes of a day trader and the reading stamina of a law student.

5. A new year with more adoption and less drama

We’ve earned it. 2025 gave us:

● Bitcoin treasuries

● Institutional adoption

● Stablecoins graduating to ‘real infrastructure’

● Governments actually reading things before banning them (mostly)

So, for 2026, we’d love:

● Clearer rules

● More real-world use cases

● And maybe one month without a viral headline predicting the end of the industry

And Santa… if you’re listening…

A little less volatility wouldn’t hurt either.

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