In 2021, these ten outstanding women used bitcoin and blockchain to make things happen one block at a time.
New research released this year revealed that there is still a long way to go until gender parity in the crypto and blockchain industries. According to the World Economic Forum’s April Global Gender Gap Report 2021, closing the gender gap due to the COVID-19 pandemic will take nearly 135.6 years.
That hasn’t prevented these women from using blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies to address a variety of social challenges, from girls’ education in underdeveloped nations to wealth disparities in black communities in the United States.
These ten women, in no particular order, are using crypto to change the world one block at a time.
This year, new research showed that there’s still a long way to go before there is gender parity in the crypto and blockchain space. WEF’s April Global Gender Gap Report 2021 found that it will take close to 135.6 years to close the gender gap due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, that hasn’t stopped these women who used blockchain technology and cryptocurrency to tackle a whole range of social issues ranging from girls’ education in developing countries to the wealth gap in black communities in the United States.
In no particular order, these 10 women are changing the world using crypto one block at a time.
Tavonia Evans
Tavonia Evans is the founder and lead engineer of GUAP Coin, which she founded to help reduce the wealth gap in the United States and assist black-owned businesses. Evans claims that her company accomplished more this year than ever before, despite being hospitalised with COVID-19 and facing sweeping financial cuts.
“We’ve onboarded hundreds of women of color into the Masternode space, an area of crypto that is largely male-dominated,” she said. 70% of GUAP nodes are owned by women of color.
“We’ve sparked awareness about crypto among a population with less access and education in crypto and finance — and we continue to do so.”
This year, the company onboarded its first brick-and-mortar merchants. It also launched the xGUAP wrapper on Binance Smart Chain.
Lisa Wade
Lisa Wade was named the Gender and Diversity Leader of the Year for 2021 by Blockchain Australia, in recognition of her work fighting for women and LGBTIQ+ persons in the blockchain industry.
She is the founder of NEOMI, an investment ecosystem that connects non-profits seeking cash with investors seeking genuine impact investments. Wade elaborated.
“NEOMI has a lens on our theory of change, which supports LGBTI and female entrepreneurs.”
Wade is also the chair of NAB Pride and the founder of the Australian bank’s “Rainbow Women” initiative, which provides a safe space for LGBTIQ+ women to discuss difficulties that are preventing them from advancing their careers in finance.
She has maintained her environmental involvement by co-founding Project Carbon, a blockchain venture that tokenizes voluntary carbon credits.
Olayinka Odeniran
Olayinka Odeniran is the creator and chairwoman of the Black Women Blockchain Council (BWBC), which aims to double the number of black female blockchain developers by 2030 to 500,000.
Over the last year, the BWBC has worked with Consensys, a blockchain software startup, to enable Africans around the world get involved in cryptocurrency.
She has created a “What the Hell is Blockchain” room on the social audio app Clubhouse, as well as a community site where users may network and learn about everything from nonfungible tokens (NFTs) to decentralised autonomous organisations (DAOs) (DAOs).
As if that wasn’t enough, she also released the CyberMermaid social impact NFT collection through ocean conservation NGO The Dope Sea.
In March 2022, Odeniran wants to conduct a month-long event to commemorate Women’s History Month and launch a new programme to educate African women about NFTs and blockchain.
Maliha Abidi
Maliha Abidi is a Pakistani-American author and visual artist who has received international attention. This year, she launched ‘Women Rise NFTs.’ The 10,000 NFTs represent a varied group of women from all walks of life, including activists, artists, scientists, and coders.
Rarible and DCentral Miami have both highlighted the collection on their top pages. During Art Basel in Miami, Abidi also had an artist residency.
According to Abidi, 2,350 NFTs worth over 150 Ether (ETH), or roughly $591,000, have been sold to 1,200 distinct customers, including some well-known figures such as Randi Zuckerberg and Gary Vee. 10% of the project’s total proceeds will be donated to organisations that help women and children.
The development of the world’s first metaverse school for marginalised children from throughout the world will be Abidi’s key initiative for next year.
Lavinia Osbourne
“Getting started in this revolutionary space is key to change and adoption, so Women in Blockchain Talks wants to make this as easy as possible for people — women and marginalized groups in particular — to do just that.”
Women in Blockchain Talks (WiBT) is a female-led educational platform in the United Kingdom where women can network and learn about blockchain. Lavinia Osbourne is the founder and host of WiBT. According to Cointelegraph, she stated:
WiBT started the 50k Women in Blockchain by 2023 initiative this year, which, according to Osbourne, would “demonstrate that blockchain is for everyone as well as highlight the numerous avenues” to get engaged in the area.
Osbourne is also the co-founder of the future Crypto Kweens NFT Marketplace, which is based on the Rarible technology.
WiBT appointed a Middle East ambassador to broaden their international reach and provide translated versions of their training materials to women and underrepresented groups interested in learning about blockchain technology.
Jen Greyson
Jen Greyson is a board member for Kerala Blockchain Academy (KBA) in India and a Utah-based champion of women’s empowerment through cryptocurrencies.
KBA prepares women in STEM and blockchain to be industry leaders. It launched a number of new blockchain courses in 2021, including two free foundation programmes. This year, the Academy trained nearly 7,000 students, with over 6,000 enrolling in foundation programmes in less than four months.
She stated: “The blockchain training program aimed to equip start-ups and individuals with the requisite knowledge, skills and attitude” needed to crack into the sector. Greyson added further:
“While my home state of Utah is languishing in even getting computers in every school for every student, across the globe, KBA did this in 2021 while navigating a pandemic.”
Immunochain, the Academy’s vaccination traceability solution, was chosen for a government health programme in Kerala this year. Sign-A-Doc, a blockchain-powered multi-party document signing and verification system, was also developed by KBA.
Greyson plans to start an NFT podcast and academy in 2022, with the goal of “bringing more crypto knowledge to the feminine.”
Manasi Vora
Manasia Vora co-founded the Komorebi Collective on Syndicate in May of this year, making it the first investment DAO dedicated to female and non-binary crypto entrepreneurs.
She is also the founder of the non-profit Women in Blockchain (WIB), which aims to provide a forum for women to learn about blockchain and cryptocurrency from one another. In a LinkedIn article, she stated, “We seek to link women to thought leaders in this field to inspire, cooperate, and support others.” WIB tweeted on Dec. 15:
“Crypto is about shared abundance and shared ownership. But this isn’t possible if the underrepresented communities are not included in the building, in the design, in the decision-making!”
Roya Mahboob
Roya Mahboob is not only an internationally famous activist, but she was also one of Afghanistan’s few female IT CEOs until the Taliban took control of the country in September of this year, forcing her to flee.
She is the founder and CEO of the Afghan Citadel Software Company (ACSC), which employs more than half of its workforce. She pays her employees in Bitcoin because many Afghan women do not have access to a standard bank account. She stated in an interview:
“If young people can learn about computers, they can learn about Bitcoin. And now everybody wants to learn how to access Bitcoin. They need to.”
She is also the president of the Digital Citizen Fund (DCF), a non-profit organisation dedicated to educating girls and women in underdeveloped nations about technology and money.
Mahboob also serves on the Forbes School of Business & Technology’s advisory board, and he just launched EdyEdy, a platform that teaches young people in underdeveloped nations practical digital literacy skills.
Cleve Mesidor
Cleve Mesidor is a former Obama administration official and the author of My Quest for Justice in Politics and Cryptography.
She joined the Blockchain Association as a public policy adviser in March of this year, and she also serves on the DC Innovations and Technology Inclusion Council as a Mayoral Appointee.
She also founded the National Policy Network of Women of Color in Blockchain and LOGOS, a blockchain-based social platform for activists.
Alakanani Itireleng
Alakanani Itireleng, the “Bitcoin Lady” of Botswana, is the CEO of the Satoshi Centre, which teaches members of her community how to profit from crypto and blockchain technology.
The self-funded centre is working on creating an incubator where businesses can network with possible funders and mentors.
She has lobbied the Bank of Botswana to regulate and establish Bitcoin as a legal tender, and she is also working on a local crypto wallet that will be able to link to traditional ATMs.
Itireleng remarked in a July interview with Forbes, “I was feeling that there’s something about Bitcoin that is unique, that is different from normal fiat money.” She added further: “I always call it a currency of love.”
