Several groups have emerged to help women learn about and get into DeFi, crypto, NFTs, and this whole Web3 thing, per The Information.
Why? Currently, it’s kind of a boys club:
- Only ~15% of Bitcoin and ~12% of Ethereum investors are women
- Of the 121 founders of the top crypto companies, 5 are women
- Men are 2x as likely to invest in crypto as women
- BlockFi found only 9% of women say they understand cryptocurrency
Why aren’t women more involved?
Cointelegraph spoke with several women in crypto, who cited issues including a lack of confidence in their knowledge about crypto for those who haven’t gotten on board, and harassment and subpar inclusion for those who have.
Olayinka Odeniran told The Information she was inspired to launch the Black Women Blockchain Council — which trains and promotes Black women interested in blockchain and fintech — after attending the North American Bitcoin Conference in Miami in 2018.
Not only were most speakers white men — just 3 of 88 speakers were women — but its after-party was at a strip club.
Meanwhile, a woman told Quartz that she lost a speaking engagement to a man… about a subject she’d taught him.
But more women are moving into the space…
… and these groups are there to help those just getting started.
BFF is a crypto collective founded by Brit + Co’s Brit Morin and Jaime Schmidt, founder of deodorant company Schmidt’s Naturals. It’s buzzy thanks to big names like actress Mila Kunis, model Tyra Banks, and VC Li Jin.
Not your thing? There’s also:
Surge, a community for women and nonbinary people
Crypto Besties
SheFi, which offers courses in DeFi
The UK-based Women in Blockchain Talks
Got a group you like? Tell us about it.