I've been in Crypto for a while: I first read about Bitcoin in around 2010 and immediately saw the potential, however investing back then was far from straightforward so it wasn't until 2012 that I actually bought in. I bought Ethereum next, when it was £15. These were both wins. Since then I have diversified into alt coins and have been steadily building my portfolio. I haven't had any major disasters but I did get caught up in the hype, pump and subsequent dump of Chain Coin. Every now and then, I figure, you have to pay a learning fee, and that's what Chain Coin was for me. Since then I've learnt to do my research and be a little more wary. I've also learnt that it's the long game that really matters.
None of that makes me different from many other Crypto investors. What does make me different is that I am female and that makes me a rare beast in this world. Last week Michael Suppo conducted a Twitter Poll: how many of his followers were women? The result was just 11%. Further research seems to indicate that in the wider Crypto community the percentage is even lower, at around 5%. Around those statistics, stories abound of low-level, everyday sexism: women at Crypto conferences being either ignored or assumed to be wives or girlfriends of male attendees – even when they are significant figures in the industry. The assumption is that crypto is for men. But it isn't and it shouldn't appear to be.
So why are women are so under-represented in the crypto community? When all you need is a laptop, a decent internet connection and some common sense, what is stopping more women getting involved in what seems to me to be one of the best investment opportunities we are likely to see at this time?
Undoubtedly the over-riding culture is somewhat laddish – even small investors quickly assume a Masters of the Universe persona and talk of Lambos abounds on Facebook sites and forums. None of this is particularly a problem – it's just boys being boys. What can be more off-putting are some off-colour memes featuring naked or nearly naked women in suggestive poses. This does not encourage women to engage in the conversation and may also prevent them from encouraging their friends to get involved. This is a shame because there are some really cool and knowledgeable people on these forums. Sure there are some stupid questions but there are plenty of people who take the time to answer them with patience and knowledge, who raise interesting issues and bring attention to new investment opportunities. There's banter and then there's all the stuff that gets a bit out of hand – like a really raucous night down the pub. Speaking personally, I don't often feel like putting myself in the middle of that but I don't let it scare me off either.
A few days ago, a meme appeared on a forum I belong to. You may have seen it: it's a picture of a distressed looking woman with the words, 'My husband is rich in Bitcoins...but if he dies I won't understand how to spend them'. The responses were quite interesting, ranging from 'Great!' and 'Just how I want it,' from some of the men to a few women poking their heads above the parapet to point out that actually it would be their boyfriends or husbands who would be similarly in the dark, responses which were met with disbelief from some of our male 'friends'. All this can quite reasonably be passed off as banter but it does reveal an underlying attitude and a problem which will affect all of us involved in crypto, whatever our gender unless we start to address it and soon.
Firstly it makes the crypto world seem like a hostile environment. In a week where Hollywood A-listers and UK politicians have been exposed as as engaging in inappropriate behaviour, sexual harassment and criminal acts, it's important to understand, as Jo Brand so eloquently put it on Have I Got News For You, that whilst some of these acts may not in themselves seem serious, the cumulative effect is to create a toxic and hostile environment. The seemingly innocuous banter belittling women's understanding of and involvement in crypto is inaccurate, unnecessary and, more to the point economically counter-productive.
Whilst it is nice to feel we have stumbled on a wonderful secret of potentially huge profits, the fact is that many of the projects we invest in are only going to make investors rich once there is mass adoption of crypto currency. It is therefore in all of our interests to be as inclusive as possible because, by it's very nature, mass-adoption is impossible if 52% of the population are excluded.
So, what will help to get women involved in crypto? Well, it is not making logos pink or creating 'Shoe Coin' or 'Sugar Daddy Coin', seriously, these coins were suggested by, you've guessed it, a man, before the conversation rapidly descended to the base level of Slut Coin etc. This goes beyond what can legitimately be called banter and it serves no one.
The answer is making it a level playing field. It's about accepting that the women involved in crypto deserve respect to because they may well know as much, if not more than you, and even if they don't, we all had to start somewhere. It's about championing the women involved in crypto and making them more visible. There are plenty of them: Alena Vranova, former CEO of Trezor now working on independent crypto and blockchain projects; Linda Xie, former Product Manager at Coinbase and now Co-founder and Managing Director of Crypto Asset Fund Scalar Capital; Toni Lane Casserly, CEO of Coin Telegraph and Dr Jemma Green Co-Founder and Chair of Power Ledger are just four. All are knowledgeable, powerful, influential women working with serious, powerful and influential companies. The problem is that too few women and girls know about them and therefore don't imagine themselves following in their footsteps and seeing crypto as a place for them whether as a career or an investment opportunity.
A start would be to move crypto currency news from the business and tech pages and into the social and lifestyle pages where it will reach a wider audience of both men and women. It's about encouraging women's publications to put the concept and the knowledge to their readers – Cosmo Girls can also be Crypto Girls.
It's about raising the profiles of women in crypto and making it clear that it is a place for women too. It's about women inviting other women in. It's about women standing our ground and banding together in the face of ignorance and prejudice. It's about moderators and contributors on forums calling out sexist and inappropriate language and behaviour. I'm not talking about banning people; I'm talking about setting and maintaining a tone of mutual respect, and guys, it's about you understanding that you need us; women are 52% of the population and that's a whole lot of potential growth that is not being tapped into. So maybe think before you go for that cheap line on a forum, consider that the woman you meet at a crypto conference might be at least as knowledgeable as you, and introduce the women in your life to the possibilities that the crypto world offers. Honestly you have nothing to lose and so much to gain.