I’m fascinated by everything about crypto because cryptocurrencies have the potential to totally transform the world as we know it. An example — my company Stella Digital recently built a website for a stealth mode startup that is aiming to use the blockchain to level the political playing field globally. That is cool. What is even cooler to me, as a female founder and woman in tech, is that the industry offers women a new way to engage, play and win like never before. At the baseline, participation can be anonymous. One can contribute to the technology, mine bitcoin and ether, create a digital wallet and invest without anyone knowing who you are. But more than this, women have a chance to play at the forefront of shaping this industry, and to lead in unprecedented ways.
Currently, around 5% of the crypto enthusiasts are women — including developers, investors, founders and casually interested individuals. This doesn’t seem like much compared to women in the tech sector at large where the women hold only about 20% of tech jobs, and around 17% of startups have a female founder.
While the numbers are small right now, I believe that is about to change. And, there are early signs of this. Women in Bitcoin groups are popping up all over the world. Our local San Francisco Meetup has 438 members. Cointelegraph reported earlier this month that the number of women thinking about investing in cryptocurrencies has leapt up from 6% to 13% in only the past six months. In the world of startups, more than a few female cryptocurrency investors are seeing blockchain technology as a solution to the fundraising challenges that many women face, as Initial Coin Offerings are the primary means to raising funds for a new startup. Proof of this — one of the largest ICO raises, the $232 million ICO of Tezos, was in part led by a woman.
To find out more, I turned to my friend, crypto expert Maria (Masha) Prusakova. Maria has long been a powerhouse in her own right. Formerly an Olympic snowboarder, she is a practicing attorney-at-law and now, the Co-Founder and Chief Legal Officer of Crypto PR Lab. The company is a boutique PR and advisory firm for blockchain and crypto projects. There are a lot of ICO advisory firms now, but none of them to date have solely female founders. Maria brings her legal skills and prior experience doing PR for blockchain startups, as well as an impressive network from her yearly participation in the World Economic Forum and her former work in wealth management for UBS and HSBC Private Banks in Switzerland and Monaco. Her partner, Alexandra Karpova, is a business development pro and also passionate about what crypto means for our collective future. As a team, Maria and Alexandra help blockchain startups with the regulatory assessment of the white paper and conduct security checks to ensure the ICO complies with regulations. They also manage PR for the startups and facilitate warm introductions to accredited investors, crypto funds and advisors in the crypto space from their network.
In short, Maria and Alexandra are on the front lines of what’s happening in the crypto industry on a daily basis.
When I asked Maria why she got into the crypto industry and then decided to co-found Crypto PR Labs, she shared that she has long been passionate about law, finance and people. These passions led her to doing PR and legal work for blockchain startups, which allowed her to learn about the technology and the industry from the trenches. Her early experiences included being part of the M&A PR team for SingularityNET, which raised $36 million in 60 seconds, Ripio Credit Network, Jibrel, Blockshow, amongst others. Throughout, she was reading about crypto, talking with blockchain experts like Don Tapscott, Bobby Lee, and many others, and working closely with startup founders. All of these experiences built her excitement about the thought of becoming a founder herself in the space. This past spring, she felt ready and took the leap. Finding her co-founder Alexandra was a key step for her, as was mentorship from investors and founders that she had been working with in the industry.
But as we all know, starting something is just the first step in a long journey. I asked Maria what challenges she’d faced so far being a female founder. She shared “There’s always this feeling of fear that comes to mind ‘what if I can’t…?’ so I switch that around and ask myself instead ‘what if I can?’ Female founders may be perceived by men as not as technical and knowledgeable as men are in the crypto space. And women should rebut this assumption and go out there and impress men with their technical knowledge in blockchain and teach them something new.”
Maria’s attitude resonated. We all, myself included, often have fears of falling short. And when it comes to a new industry like crypto that has all sorts of landmines buried amongst the tremendous potential, a little fear seems normal. So, I asked Maria what she thinks will help more women get into the industry, play with confidence and win.
She shared “There are already plenty of women in the crypto space. The problem is that they are not given the same level of public exposure and recognition. First, to foster the diversity, we need to get more women interested and involved in doing work in blockchain: organizing regular crypto discussions for women, weekly “women in crypto” meetups and workshops to teach each other about the newest trends in blockchain. Second, the education on blockchain and cryptocurrency should be more available. Just as Code.org aims to teach Computer Science to every high school student, “Cryptocurrency” needs to be part of a school curriculum. Universities should integrate courses on crypto in their Masters and MBAs programs and create Masters specialized solely in studies of cryptography and blockchain. Third, the success of the leading women in crypto should be publicly recognized. We should raise awareness about their achievements, interview them and write about them in the top media, invite them as speakers and mentors for the startups. Such exposure to female role models will motivate more women to explore blockchain technology and work in this industry.”
Her co-founder Alexandra had great advice for women who are looking to participate in the industry. She says that any background can be useful, one just needs to figure out their best strengths and apply them to the world of crypto. She said “As the industry is still growing, we need top talent to join the movement. If you don’t know where to start, just begin reading latest news (Cointelegraph, Bitcoin.com, CoinDesk), join communities on telegram and attend some local meetups.”
I couldn’t agree more with Maria and Alexandra. Cryptocurrencies and the expanding industry around them offer an unprecedented opportunity for women to shape both the future of this potentially world changing industry, and also their own lives. Stay tuned for more to come on how more women can lead the way.
