Influential Women Participants in the Blockchain Industry

Women’s participation has increased in the blockchain and crypto space as significant personalities in recent years.

Women were not very active in the space during the initial year of development in the blockchain and crypto industry. However, in recent years, many investors and developers have become interested in digital currencies and blockchain ecosystems. 

The work and contributions of some renowned figures have helped this sector grow and add more users. With this growth in the space, more and more women are entering the markets for blockchain and digital currencies. Women contribute as users, investors, developers, or even miners.

This blog article will discuss some renowned women in the crypto and blockchain landscape and their contributions. 

Kathleen Breitman

She is the co-founder of Tezos and CEO of Dynamic Ledger Solution. Tezos is a blockchain-based smart contract platform with an on-chain governance mechanism to coordinate and push upgrades to its network. 

Before founding Tezos, Kathleen was a senior strategy associate for R3, a consortium of more than 70 financial firms. Moreover, she has also worked at Accenture, Bridgewater Associates, and the Wall Street Journal. She graduated from Cornell University. 

She is the founder of one of the most successful altcoins, a decentralized governance platform that allows the development of dApps.

She also participates in the Tezos Foundation, a non-profit organization promoting the adoption of Tezos technology.

Elizabeth Stark

She is the co-founder and CEO of Lightning Labs. Here in this organization, she is building a programmable financial layer for the Internet through fast, scalable blockchain transactions. Moreover, she is a fellow partner at Coin Center, a leading digital currency policy organization, and serves as an advisor at Chia. It is a company building a new blockchain protocol based on proof of space and time.

She has also taught at Standford University and Yale University about the future of the Internet and was also a visiting fellow of Yale’s Information Society Project. She played a significant role in the Internet Freedom effort that defeated SOPA/PIPA, which has engaged 18 million people worldwide. 

She has advised startups ranging from decentralized technology to AI and is a resident entrepreneur at Stanford StartX.

Lucy Gazmararian

She is the managing partner and founder of Token Bay Capital. It is an early-stage venture fund based in Hong Kong. This fund is specially designed to invest in digital assets and blockchain companies focusing on Asia-Pacific. 

Before this, she served as a senior leader for PWC’s Global Crypto team. As a part of this role, she advised entrepreneurs, startups, and financial institutions on their multiple crypto and blockchain projects. Additionally, she worked with central banks and other regulatory bodies to help formulate their crypto asset policies.

She has worked in the traditional finance sector, such as banking and asset management, for sixteen years. The organizations she has worked with include Goldman Sachs, Credit Suisse, Schroders, and Kleinwoot Benson. In 2023, the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission will appoint her as their Fintec Advisory Group member.

Kathryn Haun

She is the founder and CEO of Haun Ventures. She is also a general partner at Andreessen Horowitz, where she invests in tech companies from the seed to later stages. She has worked as a federal prosecutor with the U.S. department of Justice for around ten years. 

She created the government’s first task force related to cryptocurrency, which led to investigations into the Mt. Gox hack and the corrupt agents on the Silk Road task force.

She also serves on the boards of Coinbase and HackerOne and their Audit and Compensation Committees. 

Neha Narula

She is the director of the Digital Currency Initiative, a part of the MIT Media Lab focusing on cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology. She has built scalable distributed systems and databases. She is a member of the Global Futures’ Council of the World Economic Forum on blockchain and has given a TED talk on the Future of Money.

Previously, she helped in the relaunch of the news aggregator Digg and has served as a senior software engineer at Google Inc. There, she was responsible for designing Blobstore, a system for storing and serving petabytes of immutable data. She worked on Native Client, a method to run native code securely through a browser.

Ariana Simpson

She is a general partner at Andressen Horowitz. Moreover, she is the founder and managing director at Autonomous Partners. It is an investment fund focused on cryptocurrencies and digital assets.

She has also helped launch Crystal Towers Capital, an early-stage fund investing primarily in YC companies.

She has also served in sales and product roles at Facebook and BitGo. She has earned dual degrees in international politics and Spanish from the Schreyer Honors College at Penn State University.

Linda Xie

She has formerly served as a product manager at cryptocurrency exchange giant Coinbase. She has raised a fund of $20 million to invest in blockchain companies in exchange for tokens. It focuses on privacy technology. She has now invested in more than 15 companies and employed a team of four people.

She has also appeared in the Forbes 30 Under 30 – Finance in 2019. She has completed her Bachelor of Arts and Science at the University of California, San Diego. 

Perianne Boring

She is the president and founder of the Chamber of Digital Commerce, the world’s leading blockchain trade association in the United States. 

Before the creation of the Chamber, she served as a television anchor for an international finance program that was aired in around 100 countries and catered to around 650 million viewers. 

She started her career as a legislative analyst in the U.S. House of Representatives, providing advice on economics, finance, tax, and healthcare policy. She has completed her bachelor’s in business administration and economics from the University of Florida.

Conclusion

These women have created significant influence in the blockchain world and led efforts to promote the development of decentralized technology. It is building equality in the blockchain space, constantly bidding to earn a place in the world economy.

Andrew is a blockchain developer who developed his interest in cryptocurrencies while pursuing his post-graduation major in blockchain development. He is a keen observer of details and shares his passion for writing, along with coding. His backend knowledge about blockchain helps him give a unique perspective to his writing skills, and a reliable craft at explaining the concepts such as blockchain programming, languages ​​and token minting. He also frequently shares technical details and performance indicators of ICOs and IDOs.