In this article, we highlight the 50 significant women leaders in crypto and blockchain who are advancing this fascinating and dynamic sector.
The crypto industry is often seen as a male-dominated space, but many women are making a significant impact and influence in this emerging field. From entrepreneurs and investors to educators and journalists, these women are shaping the future of crypto and blockchain with their vision, innovation, and leadership. Analytics Insight has compiled a list of the top 50 women influencers in crypto and blockchain who are inspiring others with their achievements and contributions. These women represent diverse backgrounds, roles, and perspectives, but they share a common passion for crypto and blockchain technology. They are not only breaking barriers and stereotypes but also creating opportunities and value for the crypto community and beyond.
1. Cathie Wood
Cathie Wood—famously bullish on Tesla, Bitcoin, and innovation stocks in general—did not have a good year in 2021. But she remained unwavering. As the founder and CEO of ARK Investment Management, Wood rose to fame in 2020 after some of her actively managed exchange-traded funds shot up nearly 150% in the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic. Ultralow interest rates and investors’ heightened appetite for risk helped fuel her success.
2. Blythe Masters
Blythe Masters is a British Private Equity executive and former financial services and fintech executive. She is a former executive at JPMorgan Chase, where she was widely credited as the creator of the credit default swap as a financial instrument. Masters is the first and most notable Wall Street banker to go to the blockchain sector.
3. Meltem Demirors
Meltem Demirors is the Chief Strategy Officer of CoinShares, a financial services firm in London and New York that focuses on alternative assets, starting with digital currencies. Demoirors also hosts a weekly podcast and the annual Crypto Springs conference in Palm Springs.
4. Caitlin Long
Caitlin Long is the chairman of WyoHackathon, a celebratory blockchain event for developers, entrepreneurs, and established companies. Long has been an advocate of blockchain and Bitcoin since 2012. Before WyoHackathon, she was the co-founder of Wyoming Blockchain Coalition.
5. Elizabeth Stark
Elizabeth Stark is the co-founder and CEO of Lightning Labs, which began operating the beta version of the Lightning Network in 2018 to hasten Bitcoin transactions. The company recently successfully raised $70 million for the network to rival the likes of Visa, which could handle 65,000 electronic transactions per second. Over 300 firms are building on Lightning Lab’s technology.
6. Laura Shin
Blockchain and cryptocurrency writer Laura Shin. She was a former Senior Editor for Forbes and is most recognized for being one of the first mainstream journalists to cover digital currencies. Laura has also had positions as a producer for The New York Times, a technical writer for the Wall Street Journal, and a reporter for Newsweek. As well as producing and hosting the podcasts “Unchained” and “Unconfirmed,” Shin is now penning a book about cryptocurrency.
7. Kathleen Breitman
Tezos, a platform for blockchain-based smart contracts with an on-chain governance system to coordinate and push updates to its network, was co-founded by Kathleen Breitman. She has also held positions at the Wall Street Journal, Bridgewater Associates, and Accenture.
8. Kelly Loeffler
Kelly Loeffler, an American politician, and entrepreneur has been Georgia’s junior senator since 2020. After a 15-year career at the digital asset platform Bakkt run by Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), Kelly joined the cryptocurrency sector when she was named CEO of the firm. Kelly’s company was the first to provide CFTC-approved “physical” Bitcoin futures.
9. Joyce Kim
Joyce Kim is Stellar.org’s co-founder and executive director. Joyce formerly worked at Freestyle Capital as a VC. She previously served as CEO of Soompi and co-founded the mobile shopping business SimpleHoney. She is the Director’s Fellow at the MIT Media Lab at the moment.
10. Galia Benartzi
The Bancor Protocol is a standard for the development of Smart Tokens, cryptocurrencies with built-in convertibility through their smart contracts, and was founded by Galia Benartzi, a seasoned technology entrepreneur. She founded and serves as CEO of the cross-platform company Particle Code, which streamlines the porting process for software developers.
11. Jinglan Wang
The Optimistic Ethereum Network and the Optimistic Virtual Machine are being built by Jinglan Wang, co-founder and CEO of Optimism PBC, to grow Ethereum. At the MIT Bitcoin Club, she began her exploration of cryptocurrencies. Since then, she has worked as a blockchain product manager at Nasdaq and co-founded the trade financing firm Eximchain.
12. Christine Lagarde
In the upcoming months, it is expected that there will be further attempts to provide a clear regulatory framework for crypto assets given her position as president of the ECB and her generally supportive attitude towards cryptocurrencies.
13. Vansa Chatikavanij
The CEO and Founder of OmiseGO, a second-layer scaling solution for Ethereum, is Vansa Chatikavanij. Vansa managed interdisciplinary teams of engineers, economists, and social scientists before joining OmiseGO at places like The World Bank and Sky Visual Imaging Venture. Vansa also serves as a consultant for the Hoard Exchange blockchain project.
14. Aya Miyaguchi
The organization that maintains and promotes the Ethereum platform is called the Ethereum Foundation, and Aya Miyaguchi is its Executive Director. Additionally, Miyaguchi advises the cryptocurrency exchange Kraken.
15. Preethi Kasireddy
Formerly a software engineer at Coinbase, Preethi Kasireddy is the creator and CEO of TruStory, a social network that fosters fruitful discussion. Kasireddy worked as an investment banking analyst at Goldman Sachs before joining TruStory and Coinbase. A year later, she became a partner at Andreessen Horowitz.
16. Linda Xie
Former product manager Linda Xie worked at the largest bitcoin exchange, Coinbase. With an emphasis on privacy technologies, Linda has launched a US$20 million fund that is investing in blockchain businesses in return for tokens. She now has investments in 18 businesses and a staff of four analysts.
17. Catherine Coley
Catherine Coley is the CEO of Binance.US, a digital asset marketplace authorized by the cryptocurrency exchange Binance. Coley oversaw Ripple’s institutional XRP liquidity as its head. After five years on the trading floors as a foreign exchange associate at Morgan Stanley in Hong Kong and London, Coley worked as a foreign exchange and treasury management advisor before cryptocurrency.
18. Sally Eaves
As a Chief Technology Officer, Practising Professor of FinTech, Founder, and Global Strategic Advisor, Sally Eaves combines a breadth of expertise in consulting on the use of disruptive technologies for both commercial and societal purposes. She often ranks in the top 10 for blockchain and social media impact globally and is a renowned keynote speaker for audiences across the world.
19. Katie Haun
Kathryn Haun is a partner at Andreessen Horowitz’s crypto division, which supports brave entrepreneurs who are creating the future of finance. Before Andreessen Horowitz, Haun was a federal prosecutor for ten years and worked on fraud, cyber, and corporate crime cases with agencies like the SEC and the FBI.
20. Perianne Boring
Perianne Boring is the leader and creator of the Chamber of Digital Commerce, a group that wants to support digital assets and blockchain technology. She used to work for Congress and write Forbes’ The Boring Bitcoin Report.
21. Arianna Simpson
As the Managing Director of ASP, Arianna Simpson leads a fund that invests in the blockchain space, including cryptocurrencies and digital assets. She has a background in product management and worked at BitGo before joining ASP.
22. Michelle Phan
Michelle Phan is an American YouTuber who does makeup, business, and voice acting. She turned online beauty videos into a $50 million company. She learned about Bitcoin when she was looking into gold in 2011. She put money into Lolli, an online shopping startup that gives Bitcoin to customers for buying things.
23. Amber Baldet
As a co-founder of Clovyr, Amber Baldet is at the forefront of the blockchain revolution. Clovyr is a network that provides a comprehensive platform for blockchain applications and services. Before launching Clovyr, Amber led the blockchain program at JP Morgan. The New York Times recognized her as one of the leaders in blockchain innovation.
24. Alena Vranova
Alena Vranova is the co-founder and ex-CEO of SatoshiLabs, a company that creates cryptocurrency hardware wallets and other software. She designed the TREZOR hardware wallet. She also wrote The Little Bitcoin Book.
25. Dovey Wan
Dovey Wan is the founder of Primitive Ventures, a venture capital firm that invests in blockchain and related technologies. She is also the director of Hardcore Fund, a non-profit that supports Bitcoin developers. She advises Coindesk as well.
26. Tess Rinearson
Tess Rinearson is an engineer at Chain, where she makes blockchain software. Tess has worked on problems related to storage and protocols. Before that, Tess was a full-stack engineer at Medium and made the social graph service, which was Medium’s first service in Go.
27. Lily Liu
Earn.com co-founder and CFO Lily Liu is a former partner at Multi-Family Office and CFO at Chinaco Healthcare Corporation. Lily is an investor and counselor with experience as a CFO and operations executive in the United States and China.
28. Tiffany Hayden
Tiffany Hayden is a full-time writer and an expert in Ripple’s XRP protocol, as well as an independent consultant who assists professionals and organizations in the finance industry, comprehend Blockchain technology. Hayden is also Edge’s community manager.
29. Simone Maini
Simone Maini is Elliptic’s Chief Executive Officer, responsible for putting Elliptic’s goal of enabling clients to efficiently manage crypto asset risk, expand their businesses, and satisfy regulatory requirements into action. She was invited to join the WEF Digital Currency Governance Consortium after Elliptic was named a 2020 WEF Technology Pioneer.
30. Connie Gallippi
Connie Gallippi started BitGive in 2013, the first government-recognized Bitcoin non-profit and a pioneer organization utilizing Bitcoin and Blockchain technology for humanitarian work in the underdeveloped world. Connie Gallippi has over 14 years of experience working with non-profit organizations.
31. Christina Lomazzo
Christina Lomazzo directs UNICEF’s blockchain project activities, supervising blockchain and cryptocurrency initiatives. Before joining UNICEF, she worked with several levels of government in Canada that were experimenting with blockchain. Christina also completed her master’s thesis on how global banks reacted to blockchain.
32. Elizabeth McCauley
Coinsecure’s Global Business Development is handled by Elizabeth McCauley. She is also a member of the Bitcoin Foundation and Code to Inspire’s boards. McCauley has previously worked for BitPay, as a freelance writer for Bitcoin Magazine, and as a member of Congress in the United States.
33. Rachel Wolfson
Rachel Wolfson is a podcast host, public speaker, and journalist. She has over 10 years of experience in technology journalism and has been covering blockchain and cryptocurrencies since 2017. Rachel is presently working on an enterprise blockchain book.
34. Ella Zhang
Ella Zhang is the head of Binance Labs and a vice president of Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers China. Ella has extensive expertise in the information and communications technology (ICT) business, particularly in the e-commerce and advertising industries. Ella was previously Google’s primary account manager, overseeing Google’s top advertising clients including Taobao, 360Buy, Amazon China, and Dangdang.
35. Alakanani Itireleng
Ani Itireleng is the founder and CEO of Satoshi Centre, a community-managed Bitcoin business incubator that focuses on mentorships, training, coding camps, and educational projects based on Bitcoin and second-layer technology. Satoshi Centre was Africa’s first blockchain-based fundraising platform, and it is helping Ani realize her aim of bringing decentralization to Botswana.
36. Sandra Ro
Sandra Ro is the CEO of the Global Blockchain Business Council, where she works to develop education and establish bridges between corporations, governments, and start-ups to realize the promise of blockchain technology to address real-world problems and benefit society.
37. Elizabeth Rossiello
Elizabeth Rossiello is a woman. AZA’s Chief Executive Officer and Founder. A rare female entrepreneur in Fintech who is also part of a very tiny set of really pan-African growth-stage enterprises. Rossiello formerly worked at Grameen Organization as an Africa Investment Associate, at Capital Markets & Advisory Center.
38. Noelle Acheson
Noelle Acheson is CoinDesk’s Director of Research and the Crypto Long & Short newsletter creator. Noelle works at CoinDesk, the main media resource for the blockchain and cryptocurrency industries, where she publishes and lectures on the effect of blockchain technology and creates new media products. She has Bitcoin and a little amount of ether in her possession.
39. Mihriban Ersin Tekmen
Mihriban Ersin is the COO of Colendi, a blockchain fintech business aimed at improving financial inclusion for the un/underbanked and empowering the developing globe. After graduating from Istanbul University, Mihriban began her work as a project manager for the European Union and European Commission.
40. Maxine Ryan
PRSPR, originally ProsperApp, was founded by Maxine Ryan. PRSPR is on a mission to enhance the financial stability of millions of millennials one quotation at a time. Maxine has spoken at over 200 worldwide events and has been named one of Forbes’ 30 under 30 in FinTech.
41. Rhian Lewis
Rhian Lewis is a software engineer and co-creator of CountMyCrypto, a cryptocurrency portfolio tracker. She is also the co-host of London Bitcoin Women, which she co-founded in 2014 with a buddy. She holds a BSc in Economics from UCL and formerly worked as a digital journalist for thetimes.co.uk.
42. Jen Greyson
Jen Greyson, the founder of the Blockchain Sisterhood and the CEO/founder of CO.CO – the Airbnb of office space – feels that women are the answer to cryptocurrency acceptance. Jen formerly managed a multi-million-dollar life insurance firm before entering the cryptocurrency/blockchain ecosystem.
43. Caterina Ferrara
Caterina Ferrara is the Founder and Community Manager of Blockchain Ladies, an international community that empowers women in the blockchain field. She is also the Chairperson at Neuralia – Global Research Connections, a pioneering blockchain-based crowdsourcing project that facilitates collaboration among citizen scientists in scientific research. Caterina, recognized by Forbes as one of the top 100 women founders to follow on LinkedIn and Twitter, is passionate about promoting blockchain adoption in various sectors, particularly healthcare and biomedical research.
44. Manju Mohan
Manju Mohan is the CEO and Co-Founder of Ionixx Technologies, where she spearheads process innovation, growth strategies, and marketing and sales efforts. With a strong focus on design-centric software development, she collaborates closely with the Design team. Before establishing Ionixx, she founded Iora Learning Solutions, an e-learning company, and later transformed it into Ionixx Technologies to provide cloud and mobile technology services. She is a recognized expert in Blockchain and has been featured in Entrepreneur Magazine’s list of influential women in Blockchain.
45. Tonya M. Evans
Tonya M. Evans is a globally recognized leader, academic, and administrator, known for her expertise in law, technology, innovation, and entrepreneurship. Currently a tenured Full Professor at Penn State Dickinson Law School, she also holds a five-year co-hire appointment at the Penn State Institute for Computational and Data Sciences. With over 20 years of experience, Dr. Evans specializes in the intersection of intellectual property, legal regulations, policy, and economic justice about emerging technologies such as blockchain, cryptocurrencies, NFTs, DeFi, and DAOs
46. Fahima Anwar
Fahima Marissa Anwar is the Senior Director of Global Marketing and Communications at Dubtoken, a blockchain-based platform that empowers participants of the Interactive Video and Experience Protocol. With over a decade of experience in marketing, e-commerce, and emerging technology, Fahima brings her expertise in marketing and branding to the world of blockchain. She is also a content strategist and actively shares her knowledge of blockchain and marketing with her followers on Twitter.
47. Angel Rich
Angel Rich is the CEO and Founder of the Wealth Factory, a fintech company dedicated to creating educational technology games that promote financial literacy worldwide. Her innovative approach has garnered recognition, with Angel winning several business competitions and being featured in Forbes. In 2012, she received a Presidential Achievement Award for her outstanding contributions. Through her work, Angel strives to bridge the gap in financial education and provide equal access to financial literacy for all.
48. Carolyn Reckhow
Her interest in blockchain emerged during her graduate school years when she became involved in a working group exploring Ethereum’s potential. Carolyn co-founded Fabriq, a platform utilizing Ethereum for community governance. Presently, she holds the position of Head of Business Development and Strategy at Thesis and Keep Project, following her previous role as head of operations and client services at Casa, where she contributed to the launch of Keymaster and Node, consumer-facing crypto products.
49. Erica Kang
Erica Kang is the CEO and Founder of KryptoSeoul, a community-building team that emphasizes the development of web3 technologies in Korea and beyond. With extensive experience in the blockchain industry, Erica previously led a global community for nearly five years. In addition to her role at KryptoSeoul, she serves as a partner at Blockwater Capital, advises the Korea Blockchain Association, and hosts the KryptoSeoul YouTube channel. Erica also has her social token called EST.
50. Tina Bhatnagar
Tina holds a leadership position at Coinbase, where she is responsible for overseeing the operational teams. Her primary objective is to expand and strengthen the support and IT departments to effectively address customer demands. Before joining Coinbase, Tina served as the Vice President of Operations and User Services at Twitter. She also brings with her eight years of experience at IBM, where she played a crucial role in assisting various organizations in developing and scaling their operational capacities.
