WOMEN IN BLOCKCHAIN: Our sincere thanks for your overwhelming support

It’s remarkable to think we only launched our Women In Blockchain campaign a week ago, given the incredible reception we’ve had – the response has been overwhelming from so many different corners of the industry.

So many likes, retweets, comments and full-on praise from around the world has made us understand very quickly that we were right to grab hold of the mighty spotlights which glare all over the men of this industry and shine them directly on some of the women who are in themselves leading lights of the blockchain and crypto community.

Thank you all for your tremendous support.

Just looking at some of the inspiring people who have already featured in Coin Rivet’s latest crusade really fills us with pride – especially when you realise we’re merely scratching the surface.

One of the first women we featured really set the tone of how we can all better understand the purpose of blockchain and indeed the women within it. It was Maya Kumar who was recently appointed Luno’s digital lead in Ireland.

She said something which continues to resonate with me. She proclaimed: “Blockchain is at its core about integrity. If the chain breaks, there goes the integrity.”

There it is, right there. A brilliantly simple, one-line explanation that you can gift to anyone who doesn’t yet get why blockchain is so important to our future.

Then came Maria Mikhaylenko – fresh from being handed the Frontier Award during the Decade of Women Reception at the fabulous London Fintech Week.

You could genuinely sense the hairs on the back of many necks being raised from Maria’s words during her acceptance speech in which she also captured what I believe to be the true essence of ‘Women In Blockchain’.

“The Decade of Women award is a recognition of our ability to create powerful communities and achieve synergy among women, not only by advancing our careers in tech but by simply advancing tech,” she told an audience before thunderous applause practically shook the auditorium’s walls.

It’s this spirit – this idea of advancing tech and not breaking the chain – which is what our campaign is all about.

But if anyone understood what is required to ensure we can knit that chain tightly for the future it has been Michelle Chivunga who is the regional advisor to the British Blockchain Association.

Michelle has, quite rightly, highlighted a need for this industry to understand its responsibilities toward women and ensuring this male-dominated industry is doing its best to attract more women by creating the right education channels.

“Women urgently need to be afforded the opportunities to acquire the skills to become experts in the field of blockchain,” she quite rightly said.

And that’s a notion which threads nicely into a study by the London Block Exchange which reveals the world of blockchain and cryptocurrency is bang on course to become gender equal in the next few years.

The Exchange’s senior business analyst – Agnes de Rayere – revealed that the number of women actively looking at crypto investments had doubled in the last six months, with 20% of us likely to potentially invest in some form of cryptocurrency.

She concluded that women were far more likely to approach investments in a strategic and considered way, whereas men tend to have a built-in fear of missing an opportunity.

Academically speaking, it would appear that women are naturally constructed in a way that would better arm us to work within the blockchain and cryptocurrency sector. And you can’t say fairer than that.

Sheba Karamat

CEO, Coin Rivet