With NFT’s and Cryptocurrencies becoming a topic of discussion and debate over the past few months, more and more young women have seen the opportunity and are running with it all the way to the bank.
Women have always been in the crypto space and as more women take the step towards embracing and advocating for crypto diversity, the blockchain movement gender gap will slowly close. In light of this quickly expanding space, we’ve compiled a list of some absolute superstar women who are crushing it in crypto.
Tavonia Evans, Guapcoin Founder
Tavonia Evans is a data scientist based in the United States who felt as though the “huge diversity” in the tech space could be bridged by crypto. So, she created Guapcoin which is a cryptocurrency made specifically to “amplify the economic voice of the Black community”.
Tavonia’s passion comes from wanting to close the gap and advocates for greater inclusion as access to capital continues to be extremely challenging for women of colour. She is a member of the National Policy Network of Women of Colour in Blockchain and hopes to focus on her own underserved community to close the diversity gap as much as she can.
Elizabeth Stark, Lightning Labs CEO
Elizabeth Stark is the CEO of Lighting Labs, a visa inspired network that is used to speed up the Bitcoin network, and is a fellow at Coin Centre, a top digital currency organisation. Elizabeth is a blockchain entrepreneur who specialises in education and open-internet advocacy to promote accessibility anyone willing to get into the space.
Currently, Bitcoin speeds only allow for five transactions in a single second. Elizabeth is working to change this with Lightning Labs to make BTC payments faster, smoother and cheaper than they currently are. Their technology is still being refined but could prove to be an essential payment method moving forward without the blockchain suffering congestion.
Caitlin Long, Avanti Financial Group CEO and Founder
As a 22-year Wall Street veteran, Caitlin Long is an absolute expert in bitcoin, cryptocurrency and blockchain technology. Attributed with helping drive Wyoming’s blockchain legislation as a co-founder of the Wyoming Blockchain Coalition, she has a passion for making securities markets fairer with trading securities on a blockchain.
Caitlin has a plethora of hands-on experience, being active in bitcoin since 2012 and being the chairwoman and president of Symbiont, a blockchain startup, until 2018.
Currently, she chairs WyoHackathon, a nonprofit hackathon, and is CEO of Avanti Financial Group, a new form of banking for high end individuals and institutional customers. Caitlin’s vision with Avanti is to offer infrastructure that is absent from the current crypto market, being regulated financial services that can provide custody and security to users.
Alena Vranova, Satoshi Labs Co-Founder
A bitcoin investor, business developer, former CEO of SatoshiLabs and author of The Little Bitcoin Book, Alena Vranova is a European Bitcoin legend! While at SatoshiLabs, Alena worked towards developing cyrptocurrency hardware wallets and other software to make crypto trading secure, flexible and safe for users.
Currently, Alena is the design team leader of programmers at TREZOR, another hardware wallet developer and works with mining pool, Slush Pool and the Coinmap service which shows a map of places that accept cryptocurrency.
Kristin Smith, Blockchain Association
Kristin Smith is a hyper-focused individual who is looking to assist the crypto industry by creating a strategic roadmap for public policy. Using her experience within the House and Senate offices at a senior level, and private sector experiences, she is more than capable to take on this feat for the crypto industry. Beyond this, she hopes to create awareness and accessibility for anyone to use blockchain platforms or currency exchanges like Independent Reserve to carry out cryptocurrency transactions.
Currently, Kristin runs the Blockchain Association with the goal to tackle some of the regulatory hurdles that can hinder the innovation and creativity of entrepreneurs. She also wants to provide support and education to lawmakers to ensure security and consumer protection are taken into account.
There’s no doubt that women are making their mark on the cryptocurrency world. These six women are just a sampling of those who are leading the charge and advocating for a more inclusive, diverse crypto industry. As we move into 2021, let’s continue to applaud the work of women in crypto and support their efforts to make this space more equitable for all.