Alex Gray

<figure class="wp-block-table is-style-stripes"><table><tbody><tr><td>This is part three of our three part series on communication in cryptocurrency, touching on what Web3 does well — and what Web3 does not so well —&nbsp;in communicating its messages to the wider world. You can find part one on <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/web3-communication-jargon" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Web3 language barriers here</a>, and part two on <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/crypto-communication-crisis" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">communication crises here</a>.</td></tr></tbody></table></figure>



I’m relatively new to cryptoland, I will admit that at the top.&nbsp;



In some respects, my newness would be a disservice to my ability to volley valid opinions. But in others, I would argue that my fresh eyes provide the opportunity for unbiased perspective.&nbsp;



When I departed traditional finance, I thought I was heading to the land of decentralization for the greater good, a land with an undeterrable focus on equality, an unbreakable vow to shatter the system that was burdened with centuries of cultural tech debt and flaws. Huzzah! I said.



I write today to express my disappointment. It’s exceedingly difficult to argue that there has been any legitimate attempt to break the system, when the foundation of cryptoland is so clearly colonial. It was a house with good bones for keeping people out, and we moved in and changed the wallpaper.



I lived in the traditional finance house for long enough to get the size of it. I wore neutral nail polish and sensible heels; I have tried on roughly 400 pairs of black dress pants (half of which fit too poorly and half of which fit too nicely). I have owned (gasp) a logo-emblazoned vest. I know what it means to require that everyone fit neatly into a box that’s shaped like a man, and I know what it feels like when no one is really trying to fix it.



Crypto’s mission was so wholesome: Free ourselves from the shackles of archaic technology and geopolitical agendas and all of the history and bad blood that comes with it.&nbsp;



Unfortunately, the shackles were just moved from one wrist to the other.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">A history of boys’ clubs</h2>



I believe you when you say you didn’t realize that the fabric of society paved the way for you to become a part of the problem.&nbsp;



But history shows us that the issues I find in crypto have already been around for a long, long time.



If you can bear with me back to World War II, the deployment of our nation’s male youth meant non-traditional roles for women —&nbsp;like computer science tasks. But while the ladies’ willingness to help with the button pushing was applauded, when the men went home after the war, so did the women.&nbsp;



By 1970, clamoring for social change was bearing real fruit and 14% of all <a href="https://www.computerscience.org/resources/women-in-computer-science/">computer science degrees</a> were held by women. But women didn’t have the privilege of exhibiting behavior that may have been conceived as “weird” or “rude,” meaning that a generation of female computer geniuses may have run away from discrimination at computer science programs and jobs as fast as they could.



The 90’s ushered in the era of big personalities with big ambitions (ahem, Peter Thiel) creating a new profile that sticks: what a genius tech founder should be like. And what’s the only thing that’s worse than a woman being rude? A woman being confident. That paired with the fact women are broadly more risk averse, a funded female founder was then (and still is) very hard to come by. But if it helps you sleep, the percentage of women with computer science degrees was up to 35%.&nbsp;



Cruising right along, the dot com bubble burst in 2001-ish and instead of saying, “Hey maybe an entire industry fueled by male narcissism was a problem, where are the ladies at?” we said “yo bring the bro nerds back.”&nbsp;



May I introduce you all to Silicon Valley. An ego was certainly still a prerequisite, but you got bonus points if you exuded the brand of awkward that’s often contrived as male genius. The pitch decks for women seeking funding were campfire fodder for lavish VC work retreats.&nbsp;



Oh by the way, the percentage of computer science degrees held by women was down to 18% by 2022. Oops.



At every single acceleration point for technological advancement, we have witnessed a relabeling and repackaging of the underlying culture we are supposed to be grateful to for such successes. Time and time again, the underlying message is clear: technology is a toy for boys. Crypto is no different.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Where to go from here</h2>



It is clear to see how we got to where we are today, and the resulting lack of women in cryptoland is frankly understandable; you can’t build a diverse team if the talent doesn’t exist. But what is unacceptable is continuing to use traditional finance’s gatekeeping playbook.&nbsp;



Traditional finance is exceptional at making sure only the select few understand how it all works; they never tried to include women, and it’s the cornerstone of wealth inequality. Let’s be different.&nbsp;



Can we also have the tenacity to say our failings out loud?



If I said to someone: “Well, crypto is not really that different from traditional finance, is it?”&nbsp;



The initial bad reaction I’d get is likely a defense of decentralized finance’s values, but a secondary reaction may very well be about the allegedly superior culture.&nbsp;



We’re not content to accept slow passive evolution on the back of reinvesting stable corporate profits! We’re changing the world! Okay. Let’s change it for everyone.&nbsp;



It’s time to stop playing dead and dumb when it comes to the lack of diversity in talent pipelines. Not to be hyperbolic, but our society still doesn’t think women can do STEM. It permeates our entire existence, starting with children’s toys and the infection only spreads from there. It’s a seemingly impossible problem, but we are a powerful community and that comes with responsibility. Let’s rise to the occasion.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



It is from experience when I tell you: Cryptoland will embody hypocrisy for as long as we pretend like inclusion is a core tenet of the community.&nbsp;



If you say you want this community to be different from traditional finance, prove it.



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<div class="wp-block-post-author-biography">Alex Gray leads the Finance team at Blockworks. Before Blockworks she took a tour through traditional finance, visiting: corporate banking, bank balance sheet management, equity research, and fintech.

She feels most grateful when she is solving hard problems, running lots of miles, and reading long books. She knows more about baseball than you do. </div>


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Exclusive, Divisive, Unwelcoming: Yes, This Is Crypto for Women

Bessie Liu

<div id="highlights-block_62a354b1c8f4d" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Companies with a woman in the founding team made up only 17.7% of venture-backed Blockchain startups</li>
 <li>Women make up only 26% of cryptoasset investors</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



There is a gender diversity problem in the crypto space. <a href="https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5a7f13828a02c7e2df8e6c68/t/5e00f58ccf118b46b6fbd32c/1577121230490/The+State+of+Diversity+and+Inclusion+in+Blockchain.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Studies</a> have shown that between 2012 and 2018, teams with a woman among the founders made up only 17.7% of venture-backed crypto and Blockchain companies. This number dropped to 8.2% when looking at all-women founding teams.



Women are also less likely than men to invest in cryptocurrencies. Gemini’s <a href="https://www.gemini.com/gemini-2021-state-of-crypto-us.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">2021 State of US Crypto report</a> shows that women make up only 26% of the investors in the space.&nbsp;



“Women tend to be more cautious when it comes to investing,” Jaclyn Strul, the chief financial officer at Xchange Monster, told Blockworks. “I like to understand risk and the technology behind things and in such a volatile industry and market, that critical thinking ensures that I make the right decisions and investments at the right time.”



The crypto space was also born from two traditionally very male-dominated industries: finance and technology. A 2021 <a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/financial-services/our-insights/closing-the-gender-and-race-gaps-in-north-american-financial-services" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">McKinsey study</a> showed that 64% of financial services C-suite executives are white men, and 23% of them are white women. The gap is significant also in the technology space, with data showing that only <a href="https://dataprot.net/statistics/women-in-tech-statistics/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">24%</a> of computing jobs are held by women.&nbsp;



This gap has been present for decades, Strul said. “PC usage in the ‘80s was definitely male-dominated for the first ten years before women became comfortable and again, the internet in the early ‘90s was also male-dominated until the 2000s before women began using the internet.”



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Moving forward</h3>



Not long ago, women were <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/money/us-money-blog/2014/aug/11/women-rights-money-timeline-history" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">legally prevented</a> from managing their own finances; it wasn’t until the mid-1970s in the US that women first gained the right to open a bank account.&nbsp;



Although we are slowly making progress towards gender equality, that goal <a href="https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/hr-topics/compensation/pages/gender-pay-gap-improvement-slowed-during-the-pandemic.aspx" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">remains far off</a>.&nbsp;



“Crypto is a fairly new industry, and it is still highly technical,” Lily Hu, a lead engineer at 57Blocks, told Blockworks. “I think as the industry matures, we will see more women and minorities participating in the space.”



Hu echoed Strul’s opinion on women being more risk-averse than men, stating that “typically men are more exploratory in spirit while women are relatively conservative when it comes to taking big career risks. However, I see that changing as more and more women are becoming leaders in their field.”



She also believed that in addition to being in a space that is constantly changing and adapting, the crypto industry is full of new concepts and ideas different from traditional technology and finance.&nbsp;



“As someone whose background has been in traditional software development for many years, I had to endure a lot of cognitive changes to understand the new [blockchain] concepts,’ Hu said.&nbsp;



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote">“You also have to participate in crypto to fully understand it.”</blockquote>



Although the demographics in crypto still skew male today, it needn’t imply that women are not interested in the space. In fact, the same <a href="https://www.gemini.com/gemini-2021-state-of-crypto-us.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Gemini report</a> revealed that 53% of crypto-curious people are women.&nbsp;



For many women interested in learning more about crypto and looking for opportunities to work in the field, Strul suggests to “be confident in your craft.”



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote">“You don’t have to be a software engineer to be a woman in tech. There are many opportunities for accountants and even if you’re in marketing. It doesn’t matter what your role is. You just need your own craft, and you need to believe in your abilities.”</blockquote>



The first cryptocurrency, bitcoin, was designed to <a href="https://www.ussc.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/training/annual-national-training-seminar/2018/Emerging_Tech_Bitcoin_Crypto.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">encourage financial equity</a>. It was created so that online payments could be directly sent from one party to another without relying on a financial institution. The modern Web3 movement is meritocratic, optimistic and forward-looking. But as an industry, we should remain vigilant about where we’re falling short.



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Crypto Has a Gender Diversity Problem, Let’s Talk About It

Morgan Chittum

<div id="highlights-block_62290d7f93f65" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Metaverse startup The Sandbox will give $25 million to the World of Women Foundation over the next five years</li>
 <li>“It was [International Women’s Day] yesterday, and there were several panels and exhibitions for women, yes…But most of them featured exclusively white women,” Yinkore, a Nigerian-based NFT artist, told Blockworks</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



As Women’s History Month comes into full swing, women founders in cryptocurrency are extolling gains toward inclusion — but say the industry has a ways to go when it comes to women of color. 



The statistics are jarring. Just 69 of the 1,229 US-based crypto companies have one or more women founders, per <a href="https://www.rovva.com/en-us/blog/growing/the-crypto-world-in-numbers" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Rovva data</a>. Only 29% of NFT artists are women, <a href="https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2022/03/08/men-still-own-the-world-and-its-not-cute-nft-projects-and-daos-lead-the-way-during-womens-history-month" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">according to</a> artificial intelligence firm Limna. Data from the Kapor Center and Digital Undivided show women of color founders make up 4% of tech startups.



There are outliers, including BlockFi and Bakkt, both founded in part by women. Each has raised over half a billion dollars.&nbsp;



“Web3 will flourish if it’s built with diversity in mind,” Maya Miller, chief people officer at Blockchain.com, said in a statement. “Industries that are represented with diversity of thought, experience, ethnicity and gender reflect their ecosystems and users most accurately.”



But the booming business of digital collectibles has not always been built with diversity in mind, industry participants say.



Yinkore, a Nigeria-based NFT (non-fungible token) artist, told Blockworks she could “count on [her] fingers the names of Black women that are spotlighted” in crypto.



“It was [International Women’s Day] yesterday, and there were several panels and exhibitions for women, yes,” Yinkore said. “But most of them featured exclusively white women.”



Though scores of Web3 startups claim to support women, it’s predominantly white ones, according to NFT artist Oghenetega Akpomedaye.



“The change this year was significant as lots of women were supported, but I’ll say Black women, queer women and non-binary people are still looked down on in the space,” Akpomedaye told Blockworks. “We [have] yet to see how much change has been made in the community. But based on what I saw yesterday, I’d say they still have a long way to go in supporting more Black women in [this] space. Hopefully, it’ll get better going forward.”



The number of all startups founded by Black women — not just crypto companies — increased 2.5 times from 2016 to 2018, according to the most recent data available. And funds collectively raised by Black women founders rose from $50 million to nearly $250 million from 2016 to 2017.



<ul><li>OpenSea hosted an NFT <a href="https://opensea.io/collection/unstoppable-wow3" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">auction</a> Tuesday. Funds will go to Girls in Tech, which bills itself as a “nonprofit focused on educating and training the next generation of women leaders.”</li></ul>



<ul><li>The Sandbox, a metaverse game, will give $25 million to the World of Women Foundation over the next five years. The foundation was created in partnership with World of Women — creators of the NFT collection WoW.</li></ul>



The initiative “signals [the] intent to invest long term in shaping a diverse and inclusive space for women,” according to a statement from The Sandbox co-founder Sebastien Borget.



<ul><li>Worldwide Asset eXchange (WAX) celebrated the month by hosting a series of Twitter Spaces featuring women in Web3. The startup announced a women’s group focused on blockchain, which will hold virtual meetings throughout the year.</li></ul>



<ul><li>Unstoppable Domains, a blockchain domain provider, said it will donate $10 million of free domains to International Women’s Day event attendees throughout the year. The company is partnering with 65 organizations, including Google Cloud and Deloitte.</li></ul>



Jassy Jackson, vice president of operations at the NFT blockchain WAX, said many diversity initiatives can “lose steam or must pivot to adjust to the industry’s needs,” but “this in particular is not exclusive to the blockchain or crypto space.”



“This is an ongoing conversation that needs to be happening across all industries,” Jackson said. “It’s an initiative that gives women the opportunity to express, create and be authentic about how they are perceived, treated and more importantly integrated into male-dominated companies.”



Participation seems to be steadily increasing, however. CoinMarketCap <a href="https://files.coinmarketcap.com/static/marketing/according-to-coinmarketcap-2020-q1.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">data</a> indicated the number of female crypto investors increased by 43.24% from 2019 to 2020.



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