Cryptocurrency is a 21st century financial industry with a very 20th century problem: there are not enough women.
It’s been reported that twice as many men as women invest in cryptocurrency (16% of men vs. 7% of women) and even less work in the crypto field. In the broader world of finance approximately only 21.9% of those with leadership roles in financial services companies are women.
I have been a woman in tech for about 8 years and this has been an issue for me as long as I can remember. I am used to being the only woman at the board meeting, running a company, clients have ever worked with, etc. This was a huge reason I chose to work for myself for so long. It’s HARD to be the only woman no matter what industry you are in.
Acknowledging the trend of the increased innovation and adoption around financial technology in modern society, a great opportunity arises for women to play a key role in crafting the future of finance through blockchain. At the current state of the industry, blockchain needs greater female participation as the industry becomes more mature and acceptance of decentralized finance continues to grow.
The Crypto world is appearing to mirror the tech and finance worlds in terms of gender; there are women, but the space is heavily male-dominated. The good news is as Crypto becomes more mainstream, it will become more important to have diverse perspectives in creating and running the systems that power the industry so that better decisions can be made.
Blockchain technology — which underpins cryptocurrency and NFTs — has been hailed as a path to a fairer, more transparent, and inclusive world considering its intrinsically democratic nature.
That said, there are many initiatives led by women in crypto who are doing what they can to make the space more inviting to other women.
The head of Australia’s largest digital-asset exchange, Caroline Bowler, stated that she believes the male-dominated cryptocurrency industry could have many benefits for women including employment opportunities.
Well known NFT artist and women’s rights activist, Maliha Abidi, is adept at using digital technologies and wants to use NFT’s as a way to reach more people. She hopes to use the nascent technology as a way for women artists to gain a bigger following. To accomplish this, she decided to launch Women Rise, a campaign to bring 100,000 girls and women into cryptocurrency by the end of 2022.
Maliha is not alone. There are quite a few women leaders in the Crypto space who are well respected, who command strong influence within the space, and who have credibility with policy makers. The efforts and successes of these powerful figures should draw other women to Crypto in due time.
Another company making big strides towards growing the number of women in Crypto is our very own Security Token Group! We have recently hired some badass women to join the team (token girl is now TOKEN GIRLS!).
Being the first girl on the team, I was a little hesitant. I have observed in my career that sometimes people want to hire girls just to say they have a girl — and do not actually value their contribution. At the Security Token Group, this was NOT the case. These guys pushed me into their world and did so with open arms. I now enjoy a huge net of support as the team continues to support me and the token ladies.
As a woman in tech, fintech, AND Crypto, I LOVE to see badass women doing their thing, and I can’t wait to see how women leave their mark in the crypto world. I know one thing for sure — the TOKEN BOYS will continue to be our number one supporters. We are SO looking forward to 2022 as we plan to make our own space for women in Crypto, starting right here in the 305!