How Women Use Crypto To Change Their Lives
Cryptocurrencies have taken the world by storm. Bitcoin’s momentum has grown exponentially despite intermittent bouts of dizzying volatility. With the digital asset’s price up more than 6000% in the last 5 years, business is booming as is the brain drain from old finance to crypto. The majority of digital coin owners are reportedly male and the “cryptobro” culture has often been called-out as unprofessional and unwelcoming to women. However, women in online and live adult entertainment industries took notice of the cryptobros' newly found wealth and were able to stay ahead of the curve and benefit amid the rise of cryptocurrencies. Dancers in Las Vegas now use QR code tattoos to accept Bitcoin payments, bypassing banks to avoid legal hassles, while financial domination is trending. According to Kari Paul, @TheOnlyTheodora has reached the seven figure club from men who enjoy becoming her human crypto ATMs.
Importantly, the male-dominated digital assets ecosystem continues to be challenged head on by smart women leaders in crypto who are growing their ranks, such as powerful Lightning CEO Elizabeth Stark, WEF Blockchain Council Member Jen Zhu Scott, Clovyr's Amber Baldet, Meltem Demirors, women who shape the public view on crypto such as Coindesk reporter Leigh Cuen, Bloomberg Reporter Lily Katz, and many others.
While fintech gurus and colorful funposting women influencers in crypto twitter see their following grow at a steady pace, an inspiring number of self-taught women who have joined embody the road to mass adoption. These women are coming in to the space to learn and grow without prior expertise in finance or coding despite rampant sexism and the odds being stacked against them.
“Life was hard. I literally was set up to fail at everything in life. I had every single factor you can think of from poverty to abuse” That’s 25-year-old single mom of two Meredith Darden @merfymerf who went from living in a tiny 1-bedroom apartment and working at McDonald’s to financial independence and working comfortably from her new home.
She describes her drive to learn about crypto as a “mom moment” as she laid awake one night in December of 2016 thinking of a way out of juggling multiple low paying jobs and being $500 behind every month due to daycare fees. “I couldn’t catch up” she said.
After going through a divorce and two of her close relatives passing away, she was trying to cope and focus on her children's future by researching investment options. She stumbled on a man at a restaurant one day: “He had a laptop and was looking at charts. I just walked up to him and said: hey, are you investing or trading right now? How can I do that?”. After rudely stating that he was trading Bitcoin, the man asked her to leave.
Meredith's basic knowledge of computer applications at the time didn't stop her from wanting to do her own research: “I got on reddit. That was a huge resource to begin to educate myself. I remember reading, and stopping every 5 words to google the meaning of technical terms”.
Her efforts paid off: "I was starstruck when I found out the importance of peer to peer decentralized money. This was going to be the future. It felt great to be able to participate in dialogue online. I don’t just want to invest anymore, I want to be part of this revolution.”
Meredith now moderates a monetized crypto facebook group that she helped grow to over 137 000 members from just over 1000 when she'd joined. Eventually, through networking and contributing, job offers ensued. She was brought in on projects to help with digital marketing and other needs.
“If someone would have said to me two years ago: this is what you will be doing, I would have said: Impossible. I had put myself in a box, and learning about crypto just changed everything. I have more control over my life and I feel unstoppable”.
While Meredith warns of scams, fraudulent ICOs and pump and dump schemes - risks everyone faces in the crypto space- she recognizes forms of discrimination targeting women specifically: “I’ve had guys make general sexist comment, send me graphic memes, and tell me that this is a man’s world.” While she feels she can power through it she knows it isn’t the case for many others: “This could easily repel other women. Who would want to leave a first comment and be attacked for their gender? Many experience this, then they leave crypto and never come back”.
This prompted many, including her, to create parallel women-only discussion groups as safe spaces to discuss crypto but also to cope with widespread sexism in other groups.
Indian Crypto Girl @desicryptohodlr, a 28 year old Marketing Manager in India who shares crypto-related content online and who prefers to use a pseudonym to protect her privacy says crypto changed her outlook on life from “earning to spend, to earning to save and invest”. But she’s also experienced similar forms of discrimination. She was once told “I followed you to learn more, not for this bullshit. I guess you’re just another typical dumb Indian girl”, and “Exhibit B: Go back to the kitchen you fat curry eating bitch”. Such comments aren't uncommon on the internet, but they are especially problematic when targeting minority groups when opposite efforts are needed.
37-year old Jen Hill @crypto_sister, who quit her her previous job a year ago to start project bitmobile noticed the low number of women attending blockchain related conferences. She believes in the importance of inclusion: “there are invisible barriers that block certain groups of people from participating and we all have work to do in bringing those to light and getting rid of them”. Jen also feels that a community with disruption as its underlying goal such as the crypto space is ripe for inclusivity and she’s taken an active role in helping out: “Because I am actively working to empower and inform women and girls in this world of blockchain and crypto, I am empowered by those actions."
Despite the countless hurdles and being interviewed during the current cycle - one of Bitcoin’s harshest bear markets, this didn’t seem to affect these women's undeniable energy, drive, and thirst to learn and contribute.
“If I can do it. Me. Someone who has no background in technology, no background in finance, a divorced single mom, and now to be part of this revolution, I want people to look at me and say, If Meredith can do it, why can’t I?”.
Initially, this article was titled: How Crypto Changed Some Women’s Lives. It became clear after the interviews that it was the other way around.
Additional Links:
https://medium.com/@HoldHQ/former-goldman-sachs-executive-joins-hold-as-ceo-8e09115832f2
https://cointelegraph.com/news/winklevoss-gemini-exchange-recruits-nyse-chief-information-officer
https://www.wired.com/story/for-women-in-cryptocurrency-a-new-effort-to-grow-their-ranks/
https://cointelegraph.com/news/women-in-blockchain-and-crypto-how-to-tackle-gender-inequality
https://www.glamour.com/story/meet-the-women-of-cryptocurrency
https://www.newsbtc.com/2018/02/26/meet-the-vegas-crypto-strippers/
https://news.bitcoin.com/las-vegas-strippers-accept-bitcoin-via-qr-tattoos/
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Hi @onlyzineb, I'm @checky ! While checking the mentions made in this post I found out that @merfymerf and @desicryptohodlr don't exist on Steem. Maybe you made some typos ?
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!help.Those are twitter handles, not steemit.
Thanks for clarifying, that's correct!