There is no denying that the blockchain space is predominantly male.
It’s rare to find projects led by women, but it isn’t impossible. As the blockchain and crypto space becomes more mainstream, we hope to see more diversity across the projects.
While the numbers are definitely few and far between right now, we highlight some of the top influential women in blockchain now to inspire many other women to jump in and be a part of the future. While many others can serve on this list, we take a look at some of the female pioneers that are making their moves for the future.
Cathie Wood
Cathie Wood has always been a top influential person in the space. Some followers look up to her and follow her updates whether it’s stocks or crypto. Cathie is the CEO and Chief Investment Officer at ARK Invest. The company focuses on disruptive innovation and offers investment options to long-term investors. Many people follow Cathie Wood for her insights, and she is a believer that Ethereum is more undervalued than Bitcoin, supporting the idea that the metaverse will be a market of gold.
Elizabeth Stark
Elizabeth Stark is also an influential woman in the blockchain space. Aside from being the CEO of Lightning Labs, she is also an educator, an open-internet advocate, and a blockchain entrepreneur. She has her membership with Coin Center—a class digital currency group. Lightning Labs had a remarkable milestone when it raised funding of $10 million.
Maliha Abidi
Maliha Abidi is a popular author who recently released her NFT collection Women Rise. She is a Pakistani-American who has written many books. She’s also an acclaimed visual artist. Her collection became very popular as more and more women entered the NFT space. Her NFTs were listed on OpenSea and Rarible. She also made it to the top newspapers and websites.
Rebecca Liao
Rebecca Liao is the Co-founder of Sagan and Skuchain—a blockchain project providing both supply chain and trade management to its users and clients. She received her credential as the World Economic Forum Tech Pioneer in 2019 and is now a promising personality in the blockchain space. Before her career at Skuchain, Rebecca worked at Globality as the Director of Business and Development and Head of Asia.
Wendy Henry
Being a managing director and GPS blockchain leader at one of the most popular auditing firms globally is one of the reasons why Wendy Henry is a top influential woman in the blockchain space. She shares her knowledge and industry experience with her clients to help them bring more value to their business. She also works closely with her clients to provide them with technological solutions, especially those planning to implement blockchain technology in the business.
Tavonia Evans
Another famous woman in the blockchain is Tavonia Evans, the founder of GUAP Coin. GUAP Coin’s main goal is to solve wealth gaps and support businesses in the US that are owned by black people. She also helps in educating members who are not very knowledgeable about crypto.
Cynthia Lummis
Senator Cynthia Lummis supports cryptocurrencies, like Bitcoin. Since 2013, she’s been holding bitcoin amounting to $100,000. As a US Senator, she shared that she plans to introduce a crypto bill with broader coverage in 2022. The bill will include the regulations and taxation of crypto-related transactions, as she serves to push crypto into the limelight and mainstream of America.
Hester Pierce
Hester Pierce is a lawyer whose specialty is in financial market regulation. She’s the Commissioner of the US SEC and currently considers cryptocurrency regulations essential to the commission’s decisions. Also known as the “crypto mom,” for Pierce, crypto-related assets are more advantageous to investors, although regulating them takes a long time.
Chjango Unchained
Chjango is a cryptocurrency evangelist, community builder, and technologist with a specialization in Layer 1 consensus protocols. Helping to grow ecosystems, she serves as an advisor to cornerstone Cosmos ecosystem projects and is an early trend spotter, spotting blue chip fungible digital currencies as early as 2014. Back in 2020, Chjango started the dWeb (decentralized web) Foundation in 2020, a not-for-profit aimed at driving Handshake adoption and is currently the host of Interchain.FM, a podcast that covers crypto projects solving major problems in the sector. In addition, she also runs a PoS validator of the same name for Osmosis and Umee.
Lavinia Osbourne
If you are looking for an educational platform where you can learn more about the blockchain and relevant information about the space, Lavinia created a project called Women in Blockchain Talks (WiBT) in 2019. This is a women-led educational website based in the UK. In 2021, the platform onboarded 50k women through a campaign, and Lavinia told reports that it showed how the blockchain is a space for everyone.
Females of the Future
These women lead the female community in the blockchain space, standing at the forefront of the future. Women-led blockchain projects are increasing. Thanks to these women, more women across the board are feeling inspired and confident to show interest in the blockchain and tech space at large. Hopefully, as we move forward into the future, we can see more women in the blockchain space.