The financial sector has been notorious to be a male dominated industry. Although gender equality in the space has improved over the last decade, the gender gap is still very-much apparent along the financial authoritative pipeline. But, crypto is challenging this archetype.
Like the financial industry, the crypto space is stereotyped as predominantly male. GoogleAnalytics even suggests that more than 90% of the Bitcoin community engagement is male; however, data verifies this perception to be wrong and continues to show crypto adoption by an increasing number of women.
Up until 2018, the crypto space was regarded to be almost absent of women. From 2018 onward, though, this has changed. Since Q4 2019, CoinMarketCap recorded a significant growth in the number of its female users, averaging upward of 48%. Female adoption of and involvement in crypto has been even more impressive and extensive in 2020. Cointelegraph states that the number of female users on cryptocurrency exchanges have grown anywhere between 22% and 160% in the last year. For example:
- Cryptocurrency exchanges Bithumb Global and EXMO disclosed to Cointelegraph that the number of female users has grown over 30% just in 2020.
- CEX.io reported a 26.86% growth in female users from Q2 2020.
- In Q1 2020, CoinCorner noted that the percentage of women users on its platform increased 47%.
- Bitfinex recorded a 162% growth rate of new female users in 2020.
- In March of 2020, financial platform 2gether revealed that 23% of its app users were women between the age of 26 to 45 of different professions, including accountants, lawyers and economists.
- Financial platform Terra revealed that 74% of its users are female.
This research is indicative that the growth rate of women entering the crypto industry is exponential and continues to escalate with time.
It is clear that female interest in the crypto industry and market has grown. Research published in December 2020 by Grayscale, a Bitcoin fund operator, exhibited that the percentage of women interested in Bitcoin encompassed 43% of investors, which is up from 13% in 2019. It is evident that this percentage is actively growing.
This rising interest in crypto is the result of a plethora of factors, including accessibility, hedging, and education. The on-boarding of women into the crypto space is in part due to a growing access to the market. The innovation of crypto has allowed women to find a safe haven in digital assets and use it in their everyday lives. Myriad crypto trading platforms have democratized access to capital and allowed women to invest and trade without gender or income discrimination. Furthermore, crypto has offered attractive investment opportunities to women amidst financial hardships. Women have turned to crypto during the global Coronavirus pandemic in an attempt to diversify or hedge their portfolios. During the pandemic, many people have begun to lose confidence in traditional securities and the economy. In the United States, for example, many people continue to be concerned about inflation that may result from the economic stimulus packages distributed. Moreover, many have used cryptocurrency as an alternative financial opportunity due to job loss and the rise in unemployment as a consequence. Additionally, women have become interested in crypto as education has expanded on the subject. As access to more crypto resources has become available, education on the topic has risen. For example, more crypto trading platforms have launched in 2020, allowing for increased education of various cryptocurrencies and blockchain-based technologies. As a result, more women have opened accounts on these platforms but have not necessarily traded, proving that women are exploring the topic and are clearly interested in the crypto space. Although some women have just been exploring cryptocurrency without investing, a rising proportion of women have fully immersed themselves in the trading experience. For these female investors, crypto has captured a proportion of women’s Share of Wallet. According to Investopedia, Share of Wallet is defined as the amount a customer spends regularly on a particular product or brand rather than buying from a competing brand. As education expands and crypto continues to be mass adopted by females globally, it is predicted that women’s Share of Digital Wallet (#SODW) will grow exponentially. Although crypto education and access has increased, it should be noted that there is still a need for more resources. In an article by Coindesk, 93% of women in a survey stated that they would be more open to investing in cryptocurrencies if they had more resources available to them. Despite education advances made, more is required to expand and encompass the inclusive nature that crypto has to offer to people.
In conclusion, crypto may have once been a man’s game, but times are changing and more women are integrating into the crypto economy. To the moon!