Cryptocurrency was created for many reasons. One of them is financial inclusion and individual empowerment. Does it necessarily mean that the sector demonstrates a perfect gender balance? Turns out, no. Years after the rise of the crypto industry to prominence, men and women are presented in crypto disproportionately, with men dominating both as owners and entrepreneurs. What are the gender trends in the crypto sector?
A study by BDC Consulting reveals that over half of women who turned to crypto did so to improve their well-being. Women are more likely to hold crypto for long terms rather than be involved in trading. The study points out that the main challenges on the way into the crypto sphere are a deficit of education materials, shared family budgets, and offensive comments from male peers in the crypto-related online communities. According to Psychology Date research, only 23% of women find men fond of crypto attractive. So, let’s find out how many women are into crypto and what the specs are for working in the crypto sector as a woman.
Women as crypto owners
The Global State of Crypto 2024 report by Gemini reveals that the ownership gender gap is not only real, but it got more prominent in 2024 compared to 2022. The share of women among the respondents dropped from 42% in 2022 to 31% in 2024.
The report suggests that women and men are equally willing to buy crypto to hold it for the long term. In the UK, the percentage of women holding crypto for more than a year is higher than the share of the male long-term holders.
It’s worth saying that although the research is called “global,” it is based on a survey of 6,000 adults from only five countries: the U.S., the UK, France, Turkey, and Singapore. It does not include respondents from many countries with populations highly involved in crypto.
Disproportion indicates that crypto companies have a huge potential to increase their user base by attracting female investors. However, the companies need to find a way to appeal to women who have yet to take an interest in cryptocurrencies.
Women in the industry
The gender disparity is even more explicit when it comes to the share of women working in the cryptocurrency industry. The Forex Suggest study points to the severe gender imbalance among CEOs of the leading crypto companies. The study suggests that only 3 of the top 50 industry leaders are women, while the rest 47 are men.
The most influential female blockchain CEOs, according to Forex Suggest, are BitOasis CEO Ola Doudin, Kaiko CEO Ambre Soubiran, and Elliptic CEO Simone Maini. None of them is based in the U.S., and none of them has a web presence comparable to the top male CEOs, which makes them not as visible as the companies led by them.
This gap is really stark; however, these statistics shouldn’t discourage women from entering the crypto sector, as many women build decent careers in crypto despite the challenges.
The wage gap is another hot topic. Forbes cites the 2024 Web3 Finance Compensation Report as indicating that, on average, in the web3 industry, women earn 46% less than men. This gap is much wider than the gap existing in the web2 finance sphere. The VC investments in women-founded crypto startups reached 7% in 2024, which is 100% higher than a year before but still minuscule.
However, Pantera Capital offers a completely different picture. Based on its study, women in the crypto industry are paid more than their male colleagues. The company surveyed 502 respondents from the U.S. in 2024. According to Pantera Capital, in the web2 finance sphere, women get 84 cents, whereas men get a dollar. In web3 finance, men get a dollar, whereas women get $1.15. This means that the median salary of female employees is 14.67% higher than that of male employees’ compensation.
The study indicates that the overall number of women in the industry is very low. Interestingly enough, entry-level positions are mostly occupied by men, while women usually serve in positions that require at least 5 years of experience. Pantera Capital’s study suggests that this can be a factor explaining the “reversed wage gap” in the crypto industry.
It seems that we need more time and more studies to finally learn if women are thriving from working in web3 finance or experience even more problems than women in web2. The challenges typical for any male-dominated spheres persist in the crypto sector too:
Women’s impact
We cannot underestimate the huge impact women have made in the crypto industry. Among the brightest examples of the 2020s, we can easily point out two Wyoming activists — Senator Cynthia Lummis, mainly known as the architect and advocate of the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, and Caitlyn Long, a CustodiaBank CEO, a passionate enemy of Operation Choke Point 2.0.
Long is a speaker whose over two decades of Wall Street experience makes her a prominent expert who can cover various financial topics and outline Bitcoin’s advantages over TradFi assets. She’s worth following on X; she gives speeches on podcasts and at conferences. Her comments shed light on multiple topics, revolving mostly around crypto regulation.
Lummis was advocating for crypto and Bitcoin in the government long before it became mainstream. According to her, much has changed in the Senate, where many of her colleagues in the 2010s didn’t understand what Bitcoin was. Now, she shapes the future of cryptocurrencies in the U.S., impacting the global crypto sector, given that the U.S. has become the world’s leader in the industry.
Hester Peirce brought changes to the way the SEC is working with cryptocurrency companies. In the Gary Gensler term, the crypto giants were spending resources on court battles. Crypto was treated as unregistered securities. Peirce brought a different vision, letting companies develop freely at last.
These are only a few examples of many. We probably need more time to see more women owning crypto and leading crypto companies. The trend is ascending; there are challenges along the way, but the competence and dedication of women in crypto are undeniable.
