Meet The Leading Women in the Blockchain Industry

Twitter icon  •  Published för 1 år sedan  •  Hassan Maishera

As International Women’s Day arrives once more, we’re taking time to acknowledge and highlight the extraordinary contributions that women make to this field.

Across the globe, 37% of crypto owners are women. Yet, only as little as 3% of companies within the blockchain space are founded by women. There has been a historic social trend of women being passed over for executive positions. While this trend unfortunately still runs rampant, certain trailblazers in the blockchain industry are starting to turn the tide.

As International Women’s Day arrives once more, we’re taking time to acknowledge and highlight the extraordinary contributions that women make to this field. While our list is only a glimpse of all the hardworking women that lead the blockchain industry, it represents some of the very best work currently being done in the field.

In this article, we’ll discuss the careers of leading women in blockchain, spanning across Founders, Vice Presidents, and Heads of some of the largest departments in this industry:1

  • He Yi, Co-Founder of Binance
  • Cathie Wood, Founder, CEO, and CIO of Ark Invest
  • Pei Chen, VP of Growth for Rootstock and RIF
  • Markéta Korteová, Wakweli COO and Co-Founder
  • Laura Shin, Crypto Journalist
  • Juana Attieh, Co-Founder at FLUUS
  • Lyn Alden, Founder of Lyn Alden Investment Strategy
  • Tina Chu, Chief Marketing Officer at Affyn
  • Lindsay Anne Aamodt, Head of Marketing at Upland
  • Xiao Xiao, Investment Director of HashKey Capital
  • Jessie Chan, Chief of Staff at ParallelChain Lab

He Yi, Co-Founder of Binance

Without the contributions of He Yi, the world of cryptocurrency would be an incredibly different place. She co-founded Binance back in 2017, having spearheaded its development into the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange. Since the beginning of Binance, He Yi has been vocal about her passion for helping more women understand Web 3 and blockchain technology.

Binance Academy and Binance Charity, the latter of which has provided scholarships to an international selection of women in blockchain since early 2022, have quickly become a driving force for Web 3 adoption. As we celebrate International Women’s Day, Binance has released a statement to continue its commitment to increasing the number of women in this industry. 

Their initiative will help women find education and mentorship initiatives, helping to increase the number of women in high-level crypto executive and providing equal access opportunities in the world of DeFi. At present, less than 5% of crypto founders are women.

He Yi is a figurehead of the entire Web 3 community, with their contributions to the market space being unparalleled.

Cathie Wood, Founder, CEO, and CIO of Ark Invest

Cathie Wood has been working in capital investment and portfolio management since the 1990s, with a particular focus on technologically enabled disruption. Over the years, Wood has held positions as Managing Director at Jennison Associates, Partner at Tupelo Capital Services, and Chief Investment Officer at AllianceBernstein.

In 2014, Wood founded ARK Investment Management, a private investment firm and portfolio management platform, where she currently acts as CEO. At present, ARK manages around $6 billion USD in investor assets. 

Wood has been particularly vocal about cryptocurrencies over recent months. In December 2022, her company purchased nearly 160,000 shares of Coinbase. She predicts that this industry will bounce back from its current bearish outlook. Most famously, Wood even predicts that Bitcoin will hit $1.5 million by 2030

Pei Chen, VP of Growth for Rootstock and RIF

Pei Chen has over 14 years of experience within crypto and fintech, having led the growth and positioning of numerous startups and growth organizations over the years. Her career started at Goldman Sachs, where they worked for eight years as a team lead and then product manager. 

Since then, she has held roles in Token Foundry as COO, ConsenSys as a Director of Strategic Initiatives, and Digital Asset as the Head of American Sales. Their unique blend of experience in executive positions has allowed Chen to develop unmatched skills in forward-thinking product vision, product management, business development, and investor relations.

At present, Chen is the VP and Head of Growth at Rootstock and RIF, which has the dream of bringing decentralized technology to all. Alongside Chen’s impressive portfolio, she also regularly tours the world, giving speeches at blockchain conventions.

Markéta Korteová, Wakweli COO and Co-Founder

Markéta Korteová has been a core player in the blockchain industry for over seven years, specializing in tokenized assets. She was also integral in the coordination and promotion of one of the first-ever ICOs back in 2015. Since then, she has served as a Project Lead and Chief Operating Officer for EverdreamSoft.

EverdreamSoft is a pioneer in the tokenized asset space, having used blockchain tools to bring a new digital system of collectibles to gaming. They are also a founding member of the Blockchain Game Alliance, which helps to forge blockchain communities around gaming.

Korteová has become known for her practical skill in management and marketing alongside her vast knowledge of the applications of blockchain technology. With this balance, she has been leading projects in the world of blockchain for many years.

Most recently, back in 2021, Korteová co-founded Wakweli, a revolutionary decentralized consensus algorithm that helps to certify authenticity for tokenized assets and NFTs. 

Laura Shin, Crypto Journalist, Author, and Podcaster

Laura Shin is one of the most decorated blockchain journalists currently working in this industry. Before entering the world of cryptocurrency, Shin worked across the journalism field, holding positions at NPR, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, CBS, and LearnVes.

Shin also acted as a freelance writer for nearly a decade, having her writing published internationally across high-reputation publications. Shin’s entry into the world of blockchain came while working as a contributor for Forbes from May 2013 to June 2017. Over that four-year period, she covered blockchain, bitcoin, crypto, personal finance, economy, and business topics for the publication.

From her contributor position, Shin then moved to work as a Senior Editor of Forbes. Most recently, since February 2018, Shin has hosted the crypto podcast Unchained: Your No-Hype Resource for All Things Crypto. February 2022 also saw her publish “The Cryptopians: Idealism, Greed, Lies, and the Making of the First Big Cryptocurrency Craze.”

Juana Attieh, Co-Founder at FLUUS

While Juana Attieh has only been in the blockchain industry for just over three years, she’s made waves across the field in this short time. She began in the world of crypto by acting as a Product Manager for GBL, a Canada-based payment gateway that facilitates paying in cryptocurrency.

As a core contributor to the Cardano blockchain ecosystem, Attieh has been on a mission to bring this ecosystem to MENA. In May of 2021, she co-founded LALKUL, a Cardano stake pool that’s helping to realize her goal of bringing decentralized systems to the Middle East and North Africa. Her efforts were noticed on an international scale when she was named one of the top 25 Women in Fintech & Blockchain for 2022

Most recently, Attieh co-founded FLUUS, which offers users an all-in-one method of crypto ramping, decentralized trading services, FLUUS Pay, and crypto swapping. With accessibility at its core, FLUUS has had a phenomenal first year on the scene. 

Lyn Alden, Founder of Lyn Alden Investment Strategy

Lyn Alden has built a name for herself in the cryptocurrency industry as a leading investor and financial planner. Before entering the world of finance, she worked for over a decade in the aviation industry, using her education as an electrical engineer to work her way up to Technical Lead.

In December 2016, Alden founded Lyn Alden Investment Strategy, which provides market research and advice to thousands of financial professionals each month.  She’s been featured in the Huffington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Yahoo Finance, Time, Seeking Alpha, CNBC, and countless other major news and finance publications. 

She regularly posts in-depth articles that tackle distinct areas of personal investment. One of her recent articles was published in reaction to the FTX implosion, using this event as a springboard to talk about the wider problems with DeFi and crypto and how they should shape investment strategy.

Since 2021, Alden has acted as Board Director of Swan Bitcoin, which allows users to build automated Bitcoin saving plans. She also acts as an advisor to Ego Death Capital, reviewing seed-stage venture investments and helping to guide the startup founders. 

Lindsay Anne Aamodt, Head of Marketing at Upland

Lindsay Anne Aamodt entered into the world of Web 3 through one of the earliest known Metaverses, while leading marketing efforts at Together Labs (formerly IMVU). Working in this world, she fell in love with the entrepreneurship, friendships, and community support that were established within the Metaverse. 

Since then, Aamodt has continued to change the Web 3 space for the better, having become the Head of Marketing at Upland. She focuses on thought leadership, PR, and brand management for the multi-million dollar company.

Most recently, Aamodt was nominated as one of the Most Inspirational Women in Web 3 and the Metaverse. Her work has also allowed her entry into Chief, a private network for women executives. 

Before launching her executive career, Aamody was a professional figure skater, having won both National and World titles.

Tina Chu, Chief Marketing Officer at Affyn

Tina Chu brings nearly two decades of experience with her to the Affyn team. She’s worked at Expedia full-time for a lot of her career, and she’s already making big waves in the crypto world. As many people know, the startup world, in which Chu is a seasoned pro already, is similar to the early-stage crypto climate we see today.

Many are eager to see how she continues to impact the industry. 

Affyn is consistently making headlines as their game takes the world by storm. For example, the first wave of their land plot release sold out in a matter of hours. International Women’s Day is a great reminder to keep your eye on the influential people in the realm of crypto. 

Xiao Xiao, Investment Director of HashKey Capital

Xiao Xiao has years of experience in the venture capital space, having worked at Butler Capital Partners and Hon Hai Capital Management. Before moving into the world of blockchain investment, she worked as the Chief Analyst at Huobi Research.

Currently, Xiao is the Investment Director of HashKey Capital, an asset management group that invests directly in blockchain and digital assets. Commenting on the blockchain industry, Xiao stated that “Web 3 is growing too fast to be ignored.”

Xiao understands the importance of adapting to new mediums, using their knowledge of blockchain and cryptocurrency as a way to further position investments in this industry. Since 2018, HashKey Capital has managed over $1 billion USD in assets, working with some of the biggest names in the blockchain industry. 

Jessie Chan, Chief of Staff at ParallelChain Lab

Jessie Chan graduated from the University of Nottingham before then pursuing an MSc in Political Science and Government from the University of  Edinburgh. Since her studies, she has worked as an Executive Assistant to the Chief Executive Officer of ParrallelChain Lab.

After holding that post for over a year, Chan then started work at ParallelChain Lab as their Chief Of Staff. ParallelChain is a layer one protocol that seeks to enable the adoption of DeFi and the metaverse within the B2B market while allowing the general population to benefit from the core values that decentralized finance and Web 3 champions.

With a background in public policy research and development, Chan helps ParallelChain to navigate the constantly shifting regulatory landscape of blockchain. Chan was also recently featured in Forbes for her insight into the difference between centralized and decentralized cryptocurrency wallets. After the FTX implosion, she offered advice to the cryptocurrency community, urging them to take control of their crypto by storing it in non-custodial wallets. 

Final Thoughts

The women that we’ve highlighted on this list represent only a small part of the astounding contributions that women make to the blockchain field. All across the industry, from field-leading exchanges to new startups, women are leading the way toward a brighter future in blockchain.

On the 8th of March, we celebrate International Women’s Day for all women across the globe. As the women on this list as inspiration, we’re sure that come this time next year, the leading figures on this list will be joined by another group of core thinkers, founders, and leaders that define the blockchain industry.

This industry is driven by the intelligence, business acumen, and strategy that women bring to blockchain. Today, for International Women’s Day, we celebrate them. 

 

Author

Hassan Maishera

Hassan is a Nigeria-based financial content creator that has invested in many different blockchain projects, including Bitcoin, Ether, Stellar Lumens, Cardano, VeChain and Solana. He currently works as a financial markets and cryptocurrency writer and has contributed to a large number of the leading FX, stock and cryptocurrency blogs in the world.