As of now, we are seeing that both the government
As of now, we are seeing that both the government and the enterprise invest a significant amount into the technology, revealing use-cases that can possibly overturn the way we live.
Deloitte, a Multinational Professional Services Network, has estimated that as much as 10% of the worldwide GDP would be based on blockchain applications.
While the estimation appears to be quite interesting, there’s a worrying trend emerging in blockchain – Where are all the women?
In the year 2018, the total cryptocurrency market capitalization was worth more than $700 million. In the same year, the cryptocurrency trading neared $1 trillion, there were only 5.5% of women investors of bitcoin.
Not only this, another study by Quartz looked at cryptocurrency startups founded between 2012 and 2018, that discovered just 8.5% women as founder or co-founder.
The matter is simple, a lack of women in emerging technologies like blockchain has potentially devastating implications for both the technology and the society as a whole.
We need women in blockchain to grow successfully, vice-versa.
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Why Blockchain Needs Women?
This emerging technology would be better if more women were involved in it. There are certain reasons for the same –
1. Diversity Equals Success
Needless to say, women have the potential to make businesses more successful at all levels.
According to a study conducted in 2016, it was found that women were 34% more successful than man at trading in traditional markets.
Another study discovered a high correlation between gender diversity in better financial performance. In the tech domain, companies with a high level of gender diversity had 5.4% better returns than the companies with no gender diversity.
In general, the more diverse a company is, the more it is likely to benefit from better than average profits. As a matter of fact, diverse companies are 43% more likely to return better profits in the market.
There’s no denying that women bring more experiences and expertise to the table. With more women in the domain, challenges can be overcome more successfully, opportunities can be fulfilled more successfully, and just like every other firm, blockchain companies can benefit from that.
2. Stability
Women are less prone to engage in risky behaviour! This is the general perception of all, and there are particular reasons like they get cheaper car insurance rates, they have less testosterone, social pressure and more.
Whatever the reasons are, the perceived stability that women’s participation would offer would improve the legitimacy of the blockchain in more traditional spheres.
It would make it easier for investors, loan providers and potential clients and partners to work with companies involved in blockchain if more women were in the industry, offering blockchain the advantage of their stabilizing influence.
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Why Women Need Blockchain?
So, blockchain needs women to lead to successful edges and we have certain reasons for that. But, how would women need blockchain? Let’s find out…
1. Keeping Needs in Mind
Women need to get involved in blockchain more to make sure that it is built for everyone’s needs. There are some nations where women have fewer rights to their own wealth and property and are in controlling relationships. Such women can benefit particularly from the access to a currency that is anonymous.
These kinds of advantages need to be kept central as blockchain matures. So, what could be the best way to do so? Of course, it is to have women in the company, at every level.
2. Get In on the Ground Floor
It is quite a fact that there aren’t many opportunities for women in this world to shape an industry from scratch. But, this is not the case with blockchain. As Alexia Bonatsos, a venture capital investor put it –
“Women, consider crypto. Otherwise, the men are going to get all the wealth, again.”
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10 Most Influential Women in Blockchain
Well, that was about the importance of women in the blockchain industry. Now here comes the inspiring part.
Sure, the industry has so far been dominated by ‘blockchain bros.’ But, there are a few women out there causing the ‘female wave’ in the industry. There are women offering a real example that gender makes no difference if you are bringing value to the table.
BTC Wires proudly presents the most influential women in blockchain –
1. Kathleen Breitman (@breitwoman)
Breitman is one of the co-founders of a self-administered automatically updated blockchain – Tezos. The venture raised $232 million in funding turning into the 3rd largest ICO (Initial Coin Offering) in 2017 and the 10th largest in the history.
Despite the fact, the project had undergone the process of harsh legal investigation, yet the team was able to make it work successfully, launching the fully functional protocol in September 2018.
2. Elizabeth Stark (@starkness)
Elizabeth Stark is the co-founder and CEO of a company spearheading the development of the Bitcoin Lightning Network, Lightning Labs. By leading Lightning Labs, Stark is helping Bitcoin achieve a point where it tends to be embraced by the majority of small as well as large retail purchases, for example at cafés, electronic retailers and more.
3. Galia Benartzi (@galiabenartzi)
Galia Benartzi is the Head of Business Development and co-founder of Bancor, which is an innovative company known for creating a wholly decentralized liquidity network and protocol. Not only this, but the company has also introduced the concept of “Smart Tokens” to the blockchain world.
Bancor was the 5th largest token sale in 2017 and the 12th largest in the history by that time. Bancor’s network, by far, has processed a sum of over $1.5 billion in conversions, which is obviously an impressive number.
All things considered, with Galia Benartzi’s blockchain and her wider FinTech and entrepreneurial experience, it is clear that she is a valued asset to the blockchain space.
4. Sally Eaves (@sallyeaves)
Sally Eaves is a woman of numerous expert gifts. She’s a successful author and keynote speaker, consistently showing up at various blockchain and a wider tech conferences to proselytize the advantages of disrupting technologies when connected as solutions to societal issues and that’s only the tip of the iceberg.
Currently, Eaves’ work is increasing the knowledge of emerging technologies, for example, blockchain technology, for businesses and government, while easing barriers and encouraging adoption.
She can even be found as an advisor or mentor of a variety of different blockchain startups and other foundations.
5. Neha Narula (@neha)
Neha Narula had been a Google engineer and part of the team in charge of relaunching a news aggregator, Digg. Currently, she’s a director of the Digital Currency Initiative at the MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) Media Lab.
Narula is a pioneer in industry research, centred-around cryptocurrencies, related innovations and solving all the issues being the stumbling block of mass adoption including security, scaling, and privacy.
6. Preethi Kasireddy (@iam_preethi)
Preethi Kasireddy previously worked at Coinbase as a blockchain engineer, and at Goldman Sachs as an analyst. She was also a partner at Andreessen Horowitz investment firm
TrueStory is her recent venture, which is a social network of experts helping to identify the real and fake things related to crypto-related news. Also, she holds a 1:1 session with women willing to get involved in cryptocurrency and blockchain space.
7. Meltem Demirors (@Melt_Dem)
Meltem Demirors, according to her Twitter profile, teaches at The MIT and Oxford University. She comes with a prominent corporate background as an analyst at Dow Chemical and Tradax Energy, and as a consultant at Deloitte.
Since 2015, she was deeply involved in Digital Currency Group. At press time, she is a chief strategy officer at CoinShares, an investment management firm.
8. Linda Xie (@ljxie)
Linda Xie has obtained many years of experience in corporate risk management at AIG, as well as in product management at Coinbase.
Later on, she moved on to advising a project, 0x, building a protocol for decentralized exchanges. She has been doing her own things as the managing director and the co-founder at an investment management company, Scalar Capital.
9. Amy Wan (@amyywan)
Amy Wan comes from a strong legal background working as the U.S. Department of Commerce. Later, she moved to the crowdfunding space. The sudden flood of ICOs got her attention and led to her writing the Bloomberg Law practice guide to Initial Coin Offerings.
Currently, Sagewise is her main venture where she, along with her team, is building a product aiming to resolve disputes on blockchain efficiently.
10. Joyce Kim (@joyce)
Joyce Kim has gone a long way from being a legal clerk to counselling startups, and then being a company founder herself. Her entrepreneurial journey includes Soompi.com, Simple Honey Inc., etc.
Later on, she co-founded an open platform, Stellar, in an attempt to make financial products accessible for all. Since 2017, she is living her own life as a managing partner at SparkChain Capital, series A fund, while investing in blockchain firms across the world.
The Future with Women in Blockchain
With the list above, it is evident that the situation is gradually improving. These women in blockchain are raising awareness about the significance of diversity in the industry.
Yes! Emerging technologies need women and women need emerging technologies too. This is because blockchain technology has reached a pivotal point. Be it a government or private sector, they have realized that the technology is not just a cryptocurrency’s backbone, but the future.
It’s time for the change. With the increasing demand for technology, companies should be looking forward to allowing more women to be their part because bringing diverse minds together in one room can make amazing things happen.
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