I've been working in Web3 marketing for years, running operations for a crypto company, understanding the tech, building marketing strategies that actually work. Yet somehow, the assumption is still that I'm here by accident, that I stumbled into crypto because it's trendy, not because I know what I'm doing.
That assumption, multiplied across thousands of interactions at conferences, in Telegram channels, on Twitter threads, is crypto's whole problem in a nutshell.
Another day, another mansplain
Women make up only 26% of global cryptocurrency investors, but that's not because we don't understand it or aren't interested (spoiler: we are). It's because the entire ecosystem was built to keep us out, and it’s kinda working.
The Numbers Tell a Story Nobody Wants to Hear
Women make up just 26% of crypto investors globally, which sounds bad enough until you dig deeper and realize only 6% of crypto CEOs are women. Women receive just 10% of crypto startup funding. The leadership gap is even more stark than the investing gap, which should already be gving oyu red flags and make you wonder wtf is happening in the space that is causing this.
Surveys indicate that up to 60% of women have reported experiences of bias or exclusion in crypto-related communities. That's not a bug in the system; that's the entire operating system.
Crypto conferences feature vastly more male speakers than female ones. I struggle to find credible ladies to fill my panels when I run events, and let me tell you DEI, is so important to how my team operates. We’re so aware of the imbalance, and yet we still can’t get enough gals to show. Exhibitors hire booth babes like we're at a 1990s car show, and dressing for a conference is an aniety ridden episode where you want to look cool, approachable, but not too hot for fear that you´ll either get hit on or not spoken to - both of which have happened to me personally.
Women attending networking events have shared the lore. We stick together, we don’t leave our drinks unattended. We tend to leave by 9 PM because things get "weird" once alcohol starts flowing. We deal with marketing offsites at cool castes, being told that the girls can just share the room with one bed, operating under the assumption that adult women, colleagues, who have never engaged personally are okay and comfortable doing so because they’re “girls.”
I cannot tell you how much this makes me sigh. I’ve been working in the space for almost five years and the story is still the same. The mansplaining is hilarious when someone tries to tell me what leverage looping is when I literally wrote the go to market for the product.
Self-preservation isn't optional
The industry is described by researchers as "at best, characterized by a 'bro culture' and, at worst, dominated by sexual harassment and exclusionary practices" that are brushed under the rug because of men with immense power and money. This isn't about women being too sensitive or not understanding the jokes, trust me we get them. They’re unfortunately being made at our expense. A significant 82% of women in the crypto sector report experiencing harassment.
The culture isn't just unwelcoming; it's hostile by design.
You’re stereotyped as a bitch, a slut, a nerd, or as a secretary in the simplest manners, and it’s quite easy to see how men place you based on how they engage with you.
The Plot Twist Nobody Saw Coming
The irony that nobody talks about? When women DO whow up in the space, we're actually better at it than men. We run teams more effectively because we have people skills, and are mindful of how we speak to others. We become advocates for our teams, we nurture and upskill, we onboard normies into the space and fill the desperately needed roles by training and educating our staffs rather than sitting in echo chambers and hiring off of vibes and someone’s experience selling out an NFT project.
Research from Independent Reserve found that 76% of women reported making money or breaking even on their crypto investments, compared to 72% of men. This pattern isn't unique to crypto. We’re emotional, sure, but we’re intuitive, and we obsess over details. Women outperformed men by 0.4% in a Fidelity analysis of 5 million customers over 10 years, and a Warwick Business School study found women outperformed men by 1.8%. We consistently deliver better returns across all asset classes, including the supposedly male-dominated world of cryptocurrency.
The reason is strategy, not luck. According to Bitpanda's survey, 50% of female crypto investors prioritize long-term financial growth, with 49% holding digital assets for up to five years and 39% planning to hold for more than five years. Meanwhile, 52% of women tend to hold investments long-term compared to only 38% of men.
Gracy Chen, CEO of Bitget cryptocurrency exchange, notes that "women tend to build more diverse portfolios and focus on long-term wealth creation rather than chasing short-term gains". Women are more strategic, less likely to panic sell, and more focused on sustainable gains rather than get-rich-quick schemes that blow up portfolios.
We're the long-term players in a space obsessed with pumps and dumps.
Strategic. Patient. Profitable.
Why the Bro Culture Is a Feature, Not a Bug
The exclusionary culture isn't accidental. It serves a purpose: protecting the existing power structure while pretending to be revolutionary.
Crypto was supposed to democratize finance, but instead it recreated all the worst parts of traditional finance while adding a layer of technological intimidation. The vocabulary itself becomes "keys to the kingdom," with dense language and insider code-speak that excludes anyone whose relationship with money wasn't already secure. Who the heck is willing to sit and understand wtf KYC, BTC, and RWA are, not to mention L1 and L2 protocols. This industry’s barrier to entry is tied up tight, let me tell you.
Complexity signals exclusivity, and exclusivity maintains the status quo.
You need to be crypto native like, yesterday bro.
The Shift is happening
Things are shifting, slowly. Crypto ownership among women grew 16% year-over-year globally, and 84% of surveyed women increased their crypto holdings in 2024. A survey by Mudrex found that the number of women investing in crypto surged tenfold in 2024-25 compared to the previous year.
In the United States, 29% of women own cryptocurrency, marking remarkable growth from 18% in 2023. The momentum is real, even if the cultural barriers remain high.
Gen Z women show the highest growth rate in crypto participation, while millennial women hold the largest share of female crypto investors. Younger women are refusing to accept that finance belongs exclusively to men, and they're building their own entry points into the space. Tradfi is dead, Defi is coming, and it’s bringing the girls along for the ride.
Initiatives like the Unstoppable WoW3, which aims to onboard 6 million African women into Web3 by 2030, recognize that education without addressing cultural barriers won't work. Women in Ethereum Protocol representatives told Cointelegraph that "women need proper education, clear guidance, and support, starting with small investment amounts". Maggie Sellers of SheFi has built a reputable brand in the space with a mission to onboard women into crypto, and it’s working. Her on site conference activations are the most desirable, and hold a diverse blend of women AND men from all parts of the industry, mingling some of the greatest minds of the newest technological revolution.
Women are now outspending men for the first time when making their initial bets on cryptocurrency, with initial deposits from female clients exceeding men's after jumping 115% year-over-year. When we do enter, we're showing up with confidence and capital.
The future of finance is female.
Traditional finance has spent decades trying to figure out why women outperform men as investors. Crypto has the chance to build from scratch with that knowledge, but instead, it's recreating every exclusionary practice that made Wall Street toxic in the first place.
Females hold not only immense intelligence and capability in taking on leadership roles, they hold immense buying power. So why are the guys leaving us out? We’re playing with a new world order as it is, claiming to be community driven, yet you leave out half of the community?
As Amanda Wick, founder of the Association for Women in Crypto, emphasizes, "while the industry is maturing, toxic cultures still persist, potentially hindering progress and innovation". This isn't just about fairness (though that matters). It's about whether the industry can actually grow beyond its current limitations.
We’re not in the Wild West days of whales pumping and dumping. We’re becoming professionals. The world conference goers are getting married, we have kids, mortgages, and lives we want to preserve, we're not just here for the thrill we want to change the world. SO let the gals help make that happen. For the onboarding we need, we need structure, empathy, and diverse thinkers. Women bring that. Culture brings that.
Women posses the qualities crypto needs if it wants to be taken seriously by institutions, regulators, and the billions of people who haven't bought in yet.
If women statistically outperform men what exactly are we protecting by keeping that status quo?
The crypto bros can keep their conference after-parties and their insider jargon - I frankly will happily give them that. What they should know is that while they're busy protecting their club, women are quietly outperforming them on returns, building our own communities, and proving that the future of finance doesn't need to replicate the worst of its past.
We're not asking for permission anymore. We're building the world that Web3 promises, one strategy at a time. Keep watching , because when the dust settles, the data will show what it's already showing: we were right all along.
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