Ben Strack

Though the crypto space is aware of its wide gender gap, industry participants say there likely isn’t a quick fix.



A study published last month by Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and People of Crypto Lab found that just 13% of Web3 founding teams include a woman. It defines Web3 companies as those developing applications involving the metaverse, blockchain and crypto.



The share of women at Web3 startups overall is roughly 27%, with women staffers often clustered in non-technical roles, such as human resources and marketing, according to the <a href="https://www.bcg.com/publications/2023/how-to-unravel-lack-of-gender-diversity-web3" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">report</a>. This level is lower than in the combined fields related to science, technology, engineering and math (STEM), where women make up 33% of the workforce. 



Some of the crypto-related gender gap can be attributed to the space’s origins from the male-dominated open-source developer community, according to <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/sandy-kaul-8571877/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Sandy Kaul</a>, a senior vice president at Franklin Templeton responsible for advisory consulting and thought leadership. 



“That’s where a lot of the partnerships and a lot of the collaborations have emerged, so there’s fewer women I think in that originating pool,” Kaul told Blockworks. “As these protocols and as these initiatives start to become more mature, that’s when you are starting to see more women coming into these organizations and ventures.”



Crypto companies know they face a gender diversity problem, and many consciously prioritize interviewing women into leadership positions, said <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/search/results/all/?fetchDeterministicClustersOnly=true&amp;heroEntityKey=urn%3Ali%3Afsd_profile%3AACoAACfAmvwByhSpBqUtS_PhUWdXRvrUacLC7Ms&amp;keywords=julia%20draheim&amp;origin=RICH_QUERY_SUGGESTION&amp;position=1&amp;searchId=ad0da485-1178-42f9-870a-2df96ef144f3&amp;sid=%2CaH" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Julia Draheim</a>, a senior recruiter at staffing firm Proof of Talent. 



Draheim too sees a shortage of women in the talent pool — a trend she says bleeds into other areas of tech as well.   



“One thing I never see is a shortage of women being selected,” Draheim told Blockworks. “From my experience, the majority of companies in the Web3 space are actually more excited when they are able to interview and hire a woman.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">A matter of experience?&nbsp;</h2>



<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/thecryptorecruiter/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Emily Landon</a>, CEO of The Crypto Recruiters, said a need for built-in experience from young companies in the crypto and Web3 sectors also accounts for some of the lack of diversity.   



The strong women leaders within the talent pool that are looking to transition into Web3 may be getting “skipped over” for someone with prior experience in the space, she added.&nbsp;



“Most companies want to hire the right talent, especially when they&#8217;re not in a position to groom someone for the role, like most startups,” Landon said.



Franklin Templeton’s Kaul said many big traditional finance firms have sought to bolster gender diversity across their companies’ leadership teams via training programs and educational opportunities.&nbsp;



“But when you get into a smaller firm like a fintech, oftentimes that’s not a resource they can offer,” she said. “Then when you get to the subset of crypto, that whole problem becomes even more profound.”



An outlier in the space may be Binance, co-founded by He Yi. The crypto exchange’s workforce currently comprises 34.7% women employees, a spokesperson told Blockworks. Of the leaders reporting directly to Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao, 30.6% are women.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



Binance offers women mentorship programs, talent workshops, educational courses and lectures to share industry experience and insights on how to break into a career in Web3.



The company did not comment on whether it has any specific women hiring targets it hopes to hit going forward.&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Building the pipeline</h2>



Boosting the number of women working in the space is a two-way street, industry participants said, as companies wanting to bolster gender diversity must create an appealing environment in which women want to work.



<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/boblehto/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Bob Lehto</a>, vice president of people at Web3 privacy systems builder Discreet Labs, said he was tasked with hiring more women during his time as a human relations executive at digital wallets company BRD.



While in the role between April 2018 and November 2019, BRD hired roughly 20 additional people — resulting in an increase in the percentage of women at the company from below 10% to roughly 25%, according to Lehto.



“All the success was really because of the other female executives and engineers we had that were able to be candid and supportive to me so that they could call out my blind spots,” he noted.



Messaging, for example, on company websites and job descriptions, is one area in which many crypto firms can improve.



Replacing more “aggressive” words with “collaborative” language, for example, has been a priority at the companies Lehto has worked at, he said.&nbsp;



More firms in the space have also been adding lines to job descriptions encouraging people to apply even if they don’t think they satisfy all the role requirements.&nbsp;



“Once we had female candidates in the pipeline, they excelled in the interviews and were excited about joining the company,” Lehto said. “The bottom line…was helping paint the picture and having them see themselves at a crypto company.”



In addition to messaging improvements in job descriptions, having women executives be part of the hiring process is another key part of attracting women, the Discreet Labs executive said.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



“As female candidates saw that gender parity of our executive team, it was a lot easier of a sell to entice females into the teams,” he added.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">The funding problem remains</h2>



Beyond women as a percentage of the crypto workforce, funding remains a major hurdle for women in the space, said <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/serra-wei-63118216/">Serra Wei</a>, CEO of digital asset custodian Aegis Custody.



<a href="https://blockworks.co/news/women-web3-startups-funding">All-male founding teams raise nearly four times as much</a>, on average, as all-women teams — about $30 million compared to $8 million. And among Web3 companies that have raised more than $100 million, the percentage with all-women founding teams is zero.



“Obviously if less female founders get funded, you’re going to see less companies run by female founders,” Wei said. “Even if the companies get funded, the amount of resources is less.”



There is clear data showing that unconscious bias can sway funding decisions, according to the February report by the BCG and People of Crypto Lab.&nbsp;&nbsp;



“Put simply, all-male investment teams are more likely to back all-male founding teams,” the study says. “Given the rise of institutional focus on gender disparities in technology, some VC firms now require that investment teams include at least one woman.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Where do we go from here?</h2>



Wei said a meaningful closure of the gender gap in the crypto and Web3 spaces is likely not going to come soon, adding it could be “a next-generation thing.”



That said, Wei, who founded Aegis Custody in 2018, said more of her executives now are women compared to when she started the company.&nbsp;



“It’s the women who see my commitment as well as my vision, and who become partners and then executives to take the risk with me and build this journey.



“We have to build the network and continue to support a lot of the other female CEOs and founders,” Wei continued. “That will accelerate what we see to be more of an equal [space] in terms of gender.”



Women who work in financial services — an industry that has put resources toward improving gender diversity in recent years — are beginning to rotate into fintech and crypto, Kaul said.



These leaders will begin bringing their networks with them.&nbsp;&nbsp;



“I think that you’re already starting to see part of the solution occur,” she said. “Now it’s just a matter of letting the time catch up with that.”



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Crypto Knows It Has a Gender Gap Problem. But What’s the Fix?

Shalini Nagarajan

For women, navigating male-dominated industries has always been a struggle, but that doesn’t necessarily stop them from entering and attempting to build a successful brand.



The male-dominated world of “crypto bros” has a glaring gender gap, with <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/259734ca-0b95-11e8-839d-41ca06376bf2" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">data</a> suggesting early adopters were mostly men. Having more women on a founding team gives companies the benefits of better communication, a positive bottom-line, increased diligence in problem-solving and insight into female customers, according to <a href="https://www.womensleadershipfoundation.org/why-women-on-boards" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">research</a>.



Despite the benefits of women participation in this sector, significant cultural and structural obstacles still persist in crypto and Web3.&nbsp;



Boston Consulting Globe pointed out several inconsistencies between male and female employees in the crypto space, based on a study that used a Crunchbase database of nearly 2,800 participants.



Male-only founding teams typically trump all-female teams, as they’re able to raise four times as much capital, or about $30 million compared to just $8 million. And no company with an all-female team has managed to raise more than $100 million in funding. Even the investment teams focused on Web3 are male-dominated.



“All-male teams have the most success in attaining funding, mixed teams with men and women are in the middle, and all-female teams fare the worst,” the study found. “Given these results, it is understandable why many women are weary of joining or investing in tech startups.”



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/L94QHW-3CJLib0p2RGSIsefma7YQHbnykmVw7MCXWo_oGg7mHRzD0Cw9cORGgeOPvhydfQFMSAkWUi89zxnZHTfykwkyfk_rfg8YH1Bx2_6OErPklC0wpwTrm80b8ag1AVnsqhH-Phx32JtE5HWx1dQ" alt=""/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Source: Boston Consulting Globe</figcaption></figure>



Female founders are included only in 13% of startups within the Web3 ecosystem. But even within this marginal group, 10% of founding teams have both men and women. Just 3% of companies have an exclusively female founding team.



It also noted that even among the overall workforce, women aren’t necessarily engaged in the development or technical aspects of the crypto ecosystem. Rather they are concentrated in roles like Human Resources and marketing. They’re also more likely to launch startups leaning towards creative and social segments of Web3, rather than the finance or blockchain sectors.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Steps to improve gender diversity</h2>



New projects and startups must actively seek out female co-founders and leaders, not just to fill a diversity quota, but to gain a valuable perspective and reach a massive target group that has yet to be fully tapped, according to Emelie Olsson, co-founder of Web3 music and fan engagement platform Corite.



“It&#8217;s time to challenge the gatekeeping mentality that dismisses women as &#8216;not understanding&#8217; or &#8216;not belonging,’” she told Blockworks. “These outdated attitudes limit our potential and holds back innovation.”



The study also notes that the Web3 ecosystem is still nascent and there’s time to sort out the problems of gender disparity.



Collecting data on the representation of women and tracking progress, ensuring women are represented on investment teams, designing inclusive brand experiences, summits that focus on sponsoring events that feature women among speakers and developing regulations that address gender makeup are some ways to increase participation.



To get more women involved in Web3, companies need to look more broadly at where they source talent or invest in startups, said Chao Cheng-Shorland, CEO of ShelterZoom.



“The method up until now was to focus on people who had come up through the tech ranks, but with the vast scope Web3 provides, we can find success by reaching out to broader networks and backgrounds, even those in education, medicine, real estate, and more,” she told Blockworks.



“As the world begins to apply new frameworks to old ideas, we need to look beyond the usual places to find the right woman for the job,” she said.



Updated Feb. 20, 2022 at 7:51 am ET: Corrected quote attribution.



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Women-Led Web3 Startups Raise 4X Less Funding Than Those With Male Founders

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

Ornella Hernandez

<div id="highlights-block_6299dd9749ad1" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>The announcement comes on the heels of a visit by Women in Web3 to the emirate</li>
 <li>Abu Dhabi is just one of many cities working with Unstoppable Domains, others to be announced throughout the year</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Unstoppable Domains, a decentralized domain name provider, is running a giveaway in collaboration with Abu Dhabi firms to ensure each woman residing in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) capital receives a domain name.&nbsp;



The idea came out of a meeting of entrepreneurs from the US-based Women of Web3 organization, Access Abu Dhabi — a program that helps women-led business expand into the UAE — and the Emirati government’s Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO).



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true"><a href="https://twitter.com/unstoppableweb?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@unstoppableweb</a> is giving free <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/crypto?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#crypto</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NFT?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NFT</a>, and <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/blockchain?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#blockchain</a> domains to all women in <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/AbuDhabi?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#AbuDhabi</a>! In partnership with Access Abu Dhabi, powered by <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ADIO?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ADIO</a>, the initiative aims to give women in Abu Dhabi the opportunity to enter the world of <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Web3?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Web3</a> and be part of shaping the future🌐 <a href="https://t.co/WvLFxcIdAV">pic.twitter.com/WvLFxcIdAV</a>&mdash; Abu Dhabi Investment Office (@InvestAbuDhabi) <a href="https://twitter.com/InvestAbuDhabi/status/1532298549144207361?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 2, 2022</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



The mission of the initiative, according to Unstoppable Domains&#8217; Senior Vice President Sandy Carter, is to give power back to the people. A “domain in Web3 is actually a domain with superpowers,” she said.



Each Unstoppable Domain web name is an NFT that is minted and sold like any other non-fungible token. While users can usually choose whatever domain they want, if available, the giveaway will allow people to secure their given names. The most popular top level domains are .nft, .crypto and .888 — which is popular in China and among Abu Dhabi’s large Chinese population, Carter said.



Tying a domain name to a singular, portable digital identity, whether from Unstoppable Domains or one from competitors such as Ethereum Name Service (ENS), enables the holder to replace complicated crypto wallet addresses and have more control over their data.&nbsp;



Carter told Blockworks that Unstoppable Domains’ vision is to help cities that are interested in educating their citizens on Web3 to get started. Abu Dhabi was the chosen location to kick-start this initiative that aims to educate its citizens on Web3 and support businesswomen. Other cities will be announced throughout the year, according to the company.



Sarah Omolewu, managing partner of Maven Global Access and founder of Access Abu Dhabi, said in a statement, &#8220;In a market of expats from more than 200 countries, this initiative could potentially impact the lives of generations of women around the world.&#8221;



She added that more and more women are recognizing the value that blockchain technologies have in growing and funding their businesses. But the biggest barrier to entry is making educational opportunities accessible and widespread.&nbsp;



That’s why earlier this year, Carter <a href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/unstoppable-women-of-web3-launches-diversity-and-education-initiative-with-10-million-grant-by-unstoppable-domains-301497231.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">founded</a> the networking and training group “Unstoppable Women of Web3,” made up of a coalition of companies including Blockchain.com, Deloitte, Google Cloud, Polygon and Consensys. Unstoppable Domains pledged to distribute over $10 million worth of NFT domains to support women in their Web3 journey. 



Public figures including supermodel Tyra Banks represented America at the Women in Web3 delegation visit from May 24-26 in Abu Dhabi. Kevin O’Leary, &#8220;Shark Tank&#8221; personality and businessman, is an ambassador of Access Abu Dhabi but was not present at the meeting.



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Unstoppable Domains Gifted Blockchain Domain Names to 1M Women in Abu Dhabi

Jacquelyn Melinek

<div id="highlights-block_621f6168d370a" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>About 1 in 4 women already own crypto, the survey found</li>
 <li>Other subsectors in the industry remain largely untapped by women as only 5% have bought an NFT or participated in crypto mining</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



About one-third of women are planning on buying cryptocurrencies this year, according to a new survey conducted by BlockFi. Of those women, 60% said they plan on buying digital assets within the next few months.



That’s more than double the 29% of women who said, in a September 2021 survey, they would purchase within the next year. 



“There’s no better way to learn about something new than by doing — especially when diving into the seemingly complex world of crypto,” Flori Marquez, founder and senior vice president of operations of BlockFi, said in a statement. 



About one in four women already own cryptoassets, and of that group, a majority of them have never sold what they’ve bought.



The findings also showed women are buying bitcoin, dogecoin and ether the most — at 71%, 42% and 18%, respectively. However, other subsectors in this space remain largely untapped by women, as only 5% have bought a non-fungible token (NFT) or participated in crypto mining.



In general, the crypto sector is a heavily male-dominated industry. Out of the 121 leading crypto companies, only five of them, or 4.13%, had female founders, according to <a href="https://cryptohead.com/cryptocurrency-company-index/?msID=5717aa95-8a58-4454-9210-9f72fa4cd4a0" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">research</a> by Crypto Head. Of those founders — Marquez being one of them — all the companies also have at least one male founder, too.



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/Nu87tROsif4_LwFU8AQdFN_KSrq-YCJdhr-PlI68I_p1_pqovr6rQH9Qm2KIBukFKrNqmxkXoGC_nKT82IWu6ngxoSDvpQjY07_XSKtQvrjtzI_TaWshx_s7MLyDCa3Atp5FdraY" alt=""/><figcaption>Source: Crypto Head</figcaption></figure>



The number of women in the industry is set to grow, though. The BlockFi survey found that 15% of women are interested in working in crypto, but only 10% plan on applying to crypto or blockchain-focused companies within the next year.&nbsp;



“It’s very exciting to know that women are becoming more aware of the benefits of owning crypto and expressing interest in working in the crypto sector,” Marquez said. “Now it’s our responsibility to continue to close the education gap and provide as many on-ramps as possible, so women can easily gain exposure to crypto markets and get comfortable doing more with their crypto.”&nbsp;



The survey was conducted by a third-party survey panel at the end of January and consisted of 1,031 female Americans between the ages of 18 and 65. This is the third edition of its “Real Talk” survey, which is focused on female Americans’ attitudes toward crypto, financial wellness and career aspirations.&nbsp;



&#8220;Crypto is becoming a part of everyday financial wellness, and we must continue to educate new adopters and make financial products that are simple and easy to use,&#8221; Marquez told Blockworks. &#8220;Mass adoption presents a significant opportunity to drive inclusion in the industry.



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