After extensive research, I’ve found some amazing women that are leaving their mark on the cryptocurrency industry. All these women are contributing in one field or another, from developers, to lawyers, engineers and economists: every one has become an influencer, with a great knowledge in the industry. These women are opening the path for others to follow. Please find below our list of the 50 most influential women in the cryptocurrency industry, in no particular order:
Elizabeth Stark – co-founder of Lightning
Elizabeth graduated from Harvard Law School and is an affiliate member of the Harvard Berkman Center for Internet and Society. She is a professor in Stanford and Yale, and has established a program to help students develop projects that could improve the existing internet technology.
She is a co-founder and CEO for Lightning, an open protocol layer that leverages the power of blockchain and smart contracts to make cheap, fast, private transactions available to anyone around the world. Additionally, she is a fellow at Coin Center, a leading non-profit research and advocacy center focused on the public policy issues facing cryptocurrency and decentralized computing technologies like Bitcoin and Ethereum. Social media: Twitter.
Linda Xie – co-founder & managing director of Scalar Capital
Linda is co-founder and managing director of Scapar Capital, an investment management company specializing in cryptoassets. Linda was previously a product manager for Coinbase, one of the biggest crypto wallets out there. Linda graduated from the University of California with honors and has a background in economics. Social media: Linkedin, Twitter.
Kyle O’Connor – strategic planning at NASDAQ
With a degree in business administration, Kyle has been part of the team at Nasdaq, a leading technology and information service provider to the capital markets, since 2016, providing guidance in the cryptocurrency market. Social media: Linkedin.
Arianna Simpson – founder and managing director at Autonomous Partners
With a degree in international politics, and an impressive resume, Arianna has worked for Facebook and BitGo and is currently specializing in venture capital investment. She actively invests in cryptocurrency and created Autonomous Partners, a fund focused on digital assets. Social media: Linkedin, Twitter.
Alice Lloyd George – principal, RRE Ventures
Alice is principal at RRE Ventres, New York, a venture capital firm. Alice’s focus on blockchain and crypto companies investment has definitely paid off for her and her clients. She is known for investing in emerging technologies and runs a podcast called FLUX. Social media: Linkedin, Twitter.
Toni Lane Casserly – CEO of CoinTelegraph
Often referred to as the Joan of Arc of blockchain, and the young star of Bitcoin by her peers, Toni is co-founder of one the biggest online publications for cryptocurrency, Cointelegraph, which serves to shape the psychological perception of the market and provide financial information from the digital currency world. Toni holds a bachelor’s degree in science and arts and is currently helping develop the Singularity University, which offers educational programs in new technologies. Social media: Linkedin, Twitter.
Catheryne Nicholson – CEO of BlockCypher
Catheryne holds a degree in environmental engineering and is a former U.S. Naval Officer, who founded BlockCypher, with the sole purpose to build blockchain applications for companies. Social media: Linkedin, Twitter.
Cindy McAdam – former CEO at Xapo
Cindy has a bachelor’s degree in business and Juris Doctor in law. She has worked for Google and Xapo, a Swiss Bitcoin wallet and payment card provider. She currently works with Ribbit Capital, a venture capital firm that invests in unique individuals and brands that aim to disrupt the financial services industry. Social media: Linkedin.
Maja Vujinovic – CEO of OGroup
Maja is currently CEO of OGroup, a company that invests in, designs, and consults upon emerging techs like blockchain. Before that, Maja worked as Chief Innovation Officer at General Electric, where she used to partner cross-functionally to drive productivity and growth leveraging frugal innovation in AI, machine learning, blockchain and other emerging technologies. Social media: Linkedin, Twitter.
Rachel Mayer – product lead at Circle
Rachel is a Venezuelan with a degree in mathematics from MIT. From working in trades at JPMorgan and Lehman Brothers, she has quite the experience when it comes to this specific market. She now works for Circle, a company similar to PayPal, where people can receive and send money, and accept Bitcoins. Social media: Linkedin, Twitter.
Tina Hui – CEO of Follow The Coin
Tina is CEO and founder of Follow The Coin, a FinTech publication for news of Bitcoin, dogecoin, cryptocurrency, and blockchain, which was one of the first of its kind back in 2013. Tina has a bachelor of science from The University of San Francisco. Social media: Linkedin, Twitter.
Ambre Soubiran – founder at Kaiko
Ambre founded Kaiko, a company specialized in organizing digital assets and financial trading data, covering all major cryptocurrencies exchanged and all listed pairs. Before this, she worked at HSBC in strategic equity derivatives and has a background in capital markets. She holds multiple degrees from the most renowned universities in the world, such as Harvard and the London School of Economics and Political Science. Social media: Linkedin, Twitter.
Kelley Weaver – founder and CEO at Melrose PR
In 2012, Kelly founded Melrose PR, a PR & creative marketing agency focused on technological and storytelling innovation for the blockchain and crypto industries. Kelley holds a degree in journalism, which shows in her articles about blockchain for publications such as Forbes and The Huffington Post. Social media: Linkedin, Twitter.
Alena Vranova – CEO of Trezor
Alena is a business developer, advisor to startups, and, perhaps the most impressive part, co-founder of SatoshiLabs, the developers of one of the biggest cryptocurrency wallets in the world, Trezor. It offers one of the most secure ways to keep your cryptocurrency safe. Alena holds a degree in economics and a master’s in marketing communication. Social media: Linkedin, Twitter.
Sarah Travel – general partner at Benchmark
With a degree in philosophy from Harvard, Sarah is a well-known investor in the cryptocurrency industry. She was the first female general partner at VC firm, Benchmark. Social media: Linkedin, Twitter.
Suna Said – founder at Nima Capital
Suna runs Nima Capital, an firm that invests in all types of assets and stages, although Suna has been focusing her business into the cryptocurrency industry, digital currencies, funds, venture, and ICOs. Once she invests, she also helps companies to grow and scale internationally. Social media: Linkedin, Twitter.
Meltem Demiros – director at Digital Currency Group
Meltem is the director of development at Digital Currency Group, an investment firm dedicated to digital currencies and the development of ecosystems around blockchain-based assets. Melhem is a keen supporter of the blockchain industry, and is an investor herself. Meltem has a degree in mathematical economics and an MBA from MIT. Meltem is a member of the Global Future Council on Blockchain at the World Economic Forum. Social media: Linkedin, Twitter.
Sarah Hody – associate at Perkins Coie LLP
Sarah is a prominent attorney in the blockchain industry, specializing in, and advising to, ICOs. Before becoming an associate at Perkins Coie, Sara worked at Coinbase as a regulatory counsel, which brings a unique experience to the table. Social media: Linkedin, Twitter
Nadine and Nicole Damblon – CEO and CFO at HydroMiner
Nadine and Nicole are sisters located in Vienna who have worked together to develop HydroMiner. They started mining in Düsseldorf back in 2014, and have worked together ever since. They developed HydroMiner, an eco-friendly cryptocurrency mining farm that uses hydropower stations. They promote green-mining, an environmentally friendly method to mine cryptocurrencies. Social media: Nadine: Linkedin, Twitter – Nicole: Linkedin, Twitter.
Kathleen Breitman – co-founder at Tezos
Kathleen is co-founder at Tezos, a new decentralized blockchain that governs itself by establishing a true digital commonwealth. It facilitates formal verification, a technique that mathematically proves the correctness of the code governing transactions and boosts the security of the most sensitive or financially weighted smart contracts. Tezos made the news last year by raising $232 million through its ICO crowdfunding; but it’s now being a target of a class-action lawsuit accusing it of violating US securities laws. Social media: Linkedin, Twitter.
Carolyn Reckhow – director of operations at ConsenSys
Carolyn works in the development of technologies that will enable the natural evolution of social structures, and is currently involved in projects in blockchain technology, social innovation, and youth entrepreneurship. She is the director of operations for ConsenSys, a blockchain App production studio, who build decentralized applications for the emerging Ethereum ecosystem. Social media: Linkedin, Twitter.
Maria Gomez – head of strategy and operations at Aragon
Maria Gomez is a Colombian corporate attorney who developed her experience while working with multiple clients in the cryptocurrency industry. She now works for Aragon, a company specialized in the modernization of companies by building unstoppable organizations on Ethereum and allowing the creation of value without borders or intermediaries. Social media: Twitter.
Neha Narula – director for the MIT Digital Currency Initiative
Neha holds multiple degrees in computer science from MIT and Dartmouth. She is the director for the MIT Digital Currency Initiative, a group at MIT focusing on cryptocurrency and its underlying technologies. They seek to push the envelope on the development of this technology with fundamental research, while shedding light on the associated benefits, risks, and ethical quandaries. Social media: Linkedin, Twitter.
Tess Rinearson – engineering manager at Chain
With knowledge in computer science, Tess has worked for companies like Microsoft and CloudMine before joining the team at Chain. Chain is an infrastructure technology company that enables its partners to issue and transfer financial assets on permissioned blockchain networks. Chain has formed strategic partnerships with leading financial services firms like Nasdaq, Visa, Citi, Capital One and Fiserv. Social media: Linkedin, Twitter.
Nathalie McGrath – director of people at Coinbase
Nathalie has been with Coinbase since 2014, and has proven herself all the way to the top. She now serves as director of people at one of the largest platforms that facilitates the easy conduct of Bitcoin for consumers and merchants. Social media: Linkedin, Twitter.
Kathryn Haun – member board of director at Coinbase
Kathryn has an exceptional legal background in the cryptocurrency industry. Graduate from Stanford Law School with honors, she has served as an assistant to the United States Department of Justice, and also served as a coordinator for their Digital Currency division. Nowadays, Kathryn is a member of the board of directors at Coinbase. Social media: Linkedin, Twitter.
Tina Bhatnagar – VP of operations and technology at Coinbase
After working for IBM, SalesForce, and Twitter, Tina was recently named the VP of operations and technology at Coinbase with hopes to improve customer support and help the company scale up. With over five years of experience working as a VP of user services at Twitter, there’s no doubt that Tina will do wonders for Coinbase and the user experience. Social media: Linkedin, Twitter.
Anastasia Shvetsova – managing partner of M&A PR Studio
Anastasia is a PR guru who has worked with huge companies, such as Facebook, Instagram and PayPal as a PR specialist. Since 2014, Anastasia has been focusing on public relationships for major cryptocurrency-related companies, as managing partner of M&A PR Studio. She has worked with blockchain startups such as Waves, Ripio and Blackmoon Crypto, helping them raise millions of dollars. Social media: Linkedin, Twitter.
Paige Peterson – user education & communications at Zcash
Paige has been involved with the cryptocurrency industry since 2013, when she was part of the team that organized the SF Bitcoin community meetup. Nowadays, Paige works in user education & communications at Zcash, one of the biggest decentralized and open-source cryptocurrency companies. It’s her job to streamline user education and outreach efforts to the general public and Zcash community. Social media: Linkedin, Twitter.
Andy Coravos – co-founder of Elektra Labs
Andy holds a degree in economics from Duke University and Humboldt University in Germany. She is co-founder and CEO for Elektra Labs, a company working on building a search platform that could make it easier for people to find, select, and eventually develop new digital biomarkers and sensors. This would be an open-source registry of digital biomarkers for cardiovascular disease, diabetes, neurodegenerative disorders and more. Social media: Linkedin, Twitter.
Galia Benartzi – co-founder and business development of Bancor
Galia is a co-founder for Bancor, one of the most successful ICOs in the short history of digital tokens, raising $153 million in a matter of hours. Bancor protocol enables anyone to create a new type of digital coin called a Smart Token, which can hold and trade other tokens. The Smart Token contract serves as its own market maker, automatically providing so-called price discovery and liquidity to other coins. Social media: Linkedin, Twitter.
Ilana Pinhas – VP of engineering at Bancor
With an impressive background in software engineering and computer science, Ilana has been involved with the cryptocurrency industry since 2014. She now works as VP of engineering at Bancor. Social media: Linkedin.
Angela Tran Kingyens – investor at Version One Ventures
With multiple degrees in engineering science, biomedical engineering, and applied sciences, Angela has knowledge like no other. She joined as an investor at Version One Ventures back in 2013, an early-stage fund that invests in outstanding companies. Version One Ventures has an impressive portfolio that includes Blockstack, Coinbase, and others. Social media: Linkedin, Twitter.
Rhian Lewis – technology consultant and director at Salvia Media Services
Rhian graduated with honors from the University College of London. She has a massive amount of experience in the technology and engineering fields. Nowadays, Rhian works as a director at Salvia Media Services, a technology consultancy firm. Rhian has also co-founded and co-developed a cryptocurrency portfolio tracker called countmycrypto. Rhian co-founded the London Bitcoin Women group, an organization that includes many CEOs and COOs of tech companies. Social media: Linkedin, Twitter.
Elizabeth (Ploshay) McCauley – Bitcoin and Blockchain business development at bridge21, global business development head at Coinsecure
Elizabeth has incredible experience when it comes to Bitcoin and the blockchain industry. Since 2013 she has been involved in this industry, working for companies such as Bitcoin Magazine, BitPay, BitGive, advising the Coin Congress, and is now a board member for the Bitcoin Foundation. She also works for Coinsecure, an exchange application to buy and sell Bitcoin, and bridge21, a company that uses blockchain technologies to help move money faster. Social media: Linkedin, Twitter.
Maxine Ryan – co-founder and COO of Bitspark
Maxine co-founded and now works as the COO at Bitspark, a FinTech startup that provides the world’s first cash-in-cash-out blockchain remittances. The purpose of this app is to send, receive and manage remittance payments to any of Bitsparks’ locations. Social media: Linkedin, Twitter.
Tavonia Evans – CEO of $Guap
With over 20 years of experience in the technology field, Tavonia works as the CEO for $Guap, the first crypto token established to foster support for black-owned businesses and philanthropic efforts. This platform will facilitate connecting black businesses with tools that will fast-fuel their pathways to the future. Social media: Linkedin.
Emily Vaughn – product development director at Change Healthcare
Before joining Change Healthcare, Emily worked with BitPay, a company that builds tools for spending, accepting and building with Bitcoins. She now works as the product development director at Change Healthcare, a healthcare technology company that offers software, analytics, network solutions, and technology-enabled services for the healthcare industry. As part of her development plan, she intends to implement blockchain technology in the transaction processing workflow between the healthcare provider and payers. Social media: Linkedin, Twitter.
Elizabeth Rossiello – CEO and co-founder at BitPesa
A graduate from Columbia University, Elizabeth co-founded and now works as the CEO at BitPesa, a FinTech start-up that offers fast, efficient, and low-cost back2back payments to and from African bank accounts and mobile money wallets. BitPesa offers digital TX brokerage, allowing quick and inexpensive money transfers to the African continent. Social media: Linkedin, Twitter.
Connie Gallippi – founder / executive director of BitGive
Connie has incredible experience working as a volunteer for multiple organizations and nonprofits. It was no surprise when she decided to found BitGive, the first official Bitcoin & blockchain nonprofit organization. Connie saw the opportunity in Bitcoin as a way to make a social impact and it has now helped multiple organizations such as Save the Children, The Water Project, TECHO and Medic Mobile. Social media: Linkedin, Twitter.
Pamela Morgan – CEO at Third Key Solutions
Graduated Cum Laude from Law School, Pamela began to focus her practice on Bitcoin and digital currencies back in 2014. She advises clients on blockchain technology and its regulation in the United States. She also works as the CEO for Third Key Solutions, a firm specialized in advising companies in the digital currency space to develop customized multi-signature governance and recovery strategies. Social media: Linkedin, Twitter.
Fareshteh Forough – founder and CEO at Code to Inspire
With a degree in computer science and a master’s degree in engineering of database management systems, Dareshteh knows her way through the field. She is a huge influence in bringing Bitcoin awareness to Afghanistan. She founded and now works as the CEO to Code to Inspire, an after-school program that teaches girls in Afghanistan how to code. Social media: Linkedin, Twitter.
Blythe Masters – CEO of Digital Asset
After graduating from the University of Cambridge and obtaining a bachelor of arts in economics, Blythe joined JPMorgan, one of the biggest financial services around the world. With experience spanning almost 15 years at JPMorgan, in 2015 Blythe joined Santander Bank as a non-executive chairman, and later in 2016 became a member of the Group International Advisory Board as senior advisor on blockchain. She has then worked on the Hyperledger Project, a collaborative effort created to advance blockchain technology by identifying and addressing important features for a cross-industry open standard for distributed ledgers. She founded Digital Asset, a company that specializes in blockchain solutions for banks and financial institutions. Social media: Linkedin, Twitter.
Perianne Boring – president at Chamber of Digital Commerce
With eight years of experience working for the US Government, in 2014 Perianne founded the Chamber of Digital Commerce, the world’s largest trade association representing the blockchain industry, with the mission to promote the acceptance and use of blockchain-based technologies. Perianne is also an adjunct professor in blockchain at Georgetown University. Social media: Linkedin, Twitter.
Lisa Cheng – founder at Vanbex Group
Lisa has been working in the blockchain industry since 2014, when she joined Mastercoin, a non-profit supporting the development and innovation of Bitcoin technology. She founded the Vanbex Group, a consultancy firm that specializes on digital currencies, blockchain protocols and decentralized technology. Social media: Linkedin, Twitter.
Ola Doudin – founder of BitOasis
Ola founded BitOasis, a Bitcoin wallet exchange located in the Middle East. Ola broke every stereotype you could think of and built a company that ranked 19th on a list of the most promising UAE-based startups. Ola is a great influencer for blockchain technology in the Middle East. Social media: Linkedin, Twitter.
Paige Freeman – chief business development officer at New Alchemy
Holding multiple degrees from UCLA, University of Oxford, and Georgia Institute of Technology, Paige has acquired a unique knowledge in industrial engineering. Her experience with the cryptocurrency industry began in 2013, when she became a founding member and VP for sales for BitPay. Paige has worked with multiple companies in the blockchain industry and she now works as the chief business development officer at New Alchemy, a blockchain consulting and investment group with expertise in cryptocurrency and commerce. Social media: Linkedin, Twitter.
Susan Athey – professor at Stanford Graduate School of Business and consulting economist at Microsoft
With a PhD in economics from Stanford and a bachelor’s degree in economics, computer science and mathematics from Duke University, Susan joined Microsoft in 2007, as a consulting economist. In 2013, she became a member of the board of directors for Ripple Labs, an open-source, distributed payment protocol that uses blockchain technology. She is also a professor at Stanford Graduate School of Business, where she teaches about virtual currency. Social media: Linkedin, Twitter.
Alakanani Itireleng – founder of Satoshicentre
Alakanani is achieving the impossible: bringing awareness to the blockchain industry in Botswana, a country where a very reduced part of their population had access to the internet back in 2013. She founded Satoshicentre, an initiative to create awareness of Bitcoin and work with developers and programmers to bring solutions to Africa’s problem using blockchain technology. Social media: Twitter
Unfortunately, it’s almost impossible to name all the women that are leaving their mark on the blockchain industry, but through this list, it is my hope to inform people of the amazing projects these women are working on. They are opening a path for newcomers to join the exciting world that is the blockchain industry and technologies and are enabling other women to be inspired by them and take part in this.
