Women Leaders in Crypto and Blockchain: Meredith Darden
We're continuing our conversations with women leaders in blockchain and cryptocurrency. Today, we hear from Meredith Darden, a communications specialist at PIVX who is passionate about connecting with others and building communities around cutting-edge tech and finance developments and opportunities. The crypto enthusiast, educator, and mother of two from Baton Rouge, Louisiana wants women to dive in and take advantage of opportunities available with crypto that often were not possible under traditional financial systems. She discusses how she discovered the potential for investing in the crypto ecosystem and blockchain technology, some exciting new projects and collaborations that open up new prospects and possibilities, the inspiring women who are involved in the field, how to encourage more women to join, and more.
How did you first become involved with blockchain technology and cryptocurrency?
Like many people I know, my introduction to cryptocurrency and blockchain was somewhat happenstance. As a single mom of two young children, one day I had the realization that it was up to me to make sure I diversified financially to set us up for the best possible future. I reached out to a friend who was privy to markets and investing, and he told me about Ethereum. He was so enthusiastic and on fire about it, I almost thought he was about to pitch me a MLM scam. Instead, he encouraged me to do my own research. From there, I was absolutely hooked, and I think my friends and family thought I was going crazy for a while. Initially I viewed cryptocurrency as an investment opportunity, but my focus quickly shifted as I realized the real implications of blockchain technology.
What is your background, and what do you and your company do now in the crypto world?
Surprising as it may be, my background has not been in finance or tech. The majority of my career has been spent in real estate, property management, and multifamily housing. Prior to that, I worked for Big Brothers Big Sisters in volunteer recruitment and training. Though I’ve always been interested and informed when it comes to technology, I never imagined I would leave my career to migrate in to tech. Since doing so, I have aligned myself with a couple projects that I believe provide meaningful, real-world solutions.
Currently, I am the communications specialist for PIVX, a privacy coin with a very community-centric focus. I’m very passionate about privacy and it’s important to me to make sure people understand the value in protecting information and data. PIVX makes instant, private transactions possible and as such, I was a fan of the project long before I joined the team. You can catch me on the website, YouTube channel, and other mediums sharing information about what we have going on.
I was recently brought on as the digital marketing lead at Digipharm. I cannot share many details just yet, but Digipharm is utilizing private and public blockchain solutions to create an ecosystem that will accelerate the restructure healthcare to a value based approach. I’m very grateful to be involved, and I am bursting at the seams to share with everyone what we have in the works!
What do you think are some of the most interesting developments in blockchain, and what do you think are some opportunities for development or things to watch today?
I am a cryptocurrency enthusiast, so I’ve always got my eyes on a whitepaper. There are quite a few projects out there that are making major move, but I won’t get too wild here.
One of my all-time favorite projects is Kyber Network, a decentralized exchange that will support cross-chain transactions. They’ve made many noteworthy partnerships over the last few months, and they offer numerous solutions outside of the cryptocurrency exchange that will benefit crypto as a whole. Another one of my favorites is Bloom, a company that aims to create a secure and fair global credit scoring model. They’ve partnered with district0x to create the Bloom Lending District, as well as several other cryptocurrency lenders with the goal of helping those who are unbanked have more access to fair lending.
My list could go on and on, but Kyber and Bloom are constantly backing up their words with action, so that’s an A-plus in my book.
The number women in cryptocurrency is still quite small, and it lies at the intersection of finance and technology—two areas in which women are still underrepresented. Is there an opportunity for women to get into this industry in ways that they haven’t in the past in these areas? Is there still work to be done to get more women involved, and if so, what?
Right now, one of the most beautiful things about the cryptocurrency space for me is the intelligent, inspired, driven women I’ve encountered. Many of us come from various backgrounds and work on projects that differ vastly, but it’s incredible to witness and experience the synergy despite the differences. Its seems like everywhere I turn, I am being supported and uplifted by ladies who have the same goals I do. I moderate Crypto Coin Trader Women’s Group, and we are nearly 4,000 women strong! I think that is a powerful indicator that women are feeling less afraid to not only invest in cryptocurrency, but to become more involved and have a voice. While there is not a huge presence of women, it’s growing every day. The best way to get more women involved is to make sure they feel welcomed and included. A few kind words can go a long way.
Is it an equal playing field? Do women have access to the same opportunities and information, and how can they best make their mark in this industry?
Through my own experience and conversations with other women, I don’t believe the playing field is equal. It’s no secret that women have many obstacles and uncomfortable situations to face in fields that are dominated by highly successful males. I have had several disconcerting experiences as a woman in crypto, but ultimately, they fuel me. It often feels like I have nothing and everything to prove all at the same time. I recently read an amazing piece on Kavita Gupta that encouraged women to “push back,” or to essentially draw a line in the sand and stick to it. That really resonated with me.
I find that the best way to make a mark in the industry is to be unwaveringly, joyfully, you. Don’t let anyone tell you that what you are saying or doing isn’t important, or that you are less than because you’re a woman. Take time to foster connections with other women, and seek them first for professional advice and assistance. We are stronger together!
Women Leaders in Crypto and Blockchain: Yasmeen Drummond
By Kimberly Hosey
In this new series, we're talking to leading women in the expanding industry of cryptocurrency and blockchain. Today we hear from Yasmeen Drummond: a passionate investor, blockchain advocate and educator, public health expert, and scientist from California who hopes to see both women and the blockchain industry benefit from women gaining the confidence, knowledge, and opportunities to become involved in this burgeoning field. She's been to The North American Bitcoin Conference in Miami, Florida, and the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland in just the past few weeks, in addition to working to bring together inspiring and amazing women from around the world to help one another succeed in the world of cryptocurrency and blockchain.
How did you first become involved with blockchain technology and cryptocurrency?
Back in 2012 a friend told me about how he was mining bitcoin and asked if I wanted some bitcoin instead of cash for his portion of the rent. Then I pretty much forgot about crypto for a while until 2014 when I heard about Ethereum. In the beginning of 2017 I finally bought some!
What is your background, and what do you do now in the crypto world?
I’ve always been a social butterfly and a nerd and this combination seems to be super killer in blockchain. I tend to gravitate towards smart, passionate people. We have enjoyable intellectual conversations, usually centered about crypto, and then we find ways to help elevate each other.
I studied global public health and immunology at UC Berkeley, where I focused on surveillance epidemiology. I taught human sexuality and introduction to public health. I worked in government healthcare research for a while, then big pharma. We did anti bioterrorism research, manufactured a rare anti-toxin for infants, and conducted clinical trials. I got into tech in 2014 to assess healthcare solutions by looking at companies using machine learning or computer vision. I decided to become a VR content creator and looked at companies working on pain management and stress reduction through VR. Most of these were still very early and so I pivoted to blockchain because there was major stuff happening there and it was really exciting. I went back to get my MBA, finished in 2017 and founded Halo VC, a syndicate on AngelList that looks at startups including healthcare, blockchain and ICOs, and frontier technology.
Now I invest in quality ICOs and I create partnerships with ICOs to empower women. We do this by trying to secure allocations for women accredited investors through a women-led syndicate I started at the beginning of 2018. We do our own due diligence and are proofs of the community we have built so far of powerful, smart, and resourceful women. So far we have some amazing partnerships! Certain men in the space have been incredibly supportive in terms of cooperating on ways to bring more women into the space.
What do you think are some of the most interesting developments in blockchain, and what do you think are some opportunities for development or things to watch today?
Ethereum has been a major player in the space. Some of the coolest projects have been built upon it and so many ICOs are using an ERC20 token to launch their business ideas. The ability to write and execute smart contracts has been one of the coolest developments I know of—it’s what makes Ethereum so much more interesting than Bitcoin. Decentralized exchanges are also awesome. 0x is a great project that is building that out.
In terms of what to watch for, I think we are all waiting for a great stable coin. That will be a game changer.
There are also some ICOs in particular who have expressed a commitment to value gender inclusion and the desire to empower women; including Pryze, Refereum, Monero, and Bloom.
The number women in cryptocurrency is still quite small, and it lies at the intersection of finance and technology—two areas in which women are still underrepresented. Is there an opportunity for women to get into this industry in ways that they haven’t in the past in these areas? Is there still work to be done to get more women involved, and if so, what?
I love this question! I recently attended the Bitcoin Miami Conference and the sea of men is quite overwhelming. I keep telling people, next year I want it to be a sea of women! If any woman wants to contact me directly I would be happy to add her to Women in Blockchain and Team Block Society; organizations I have founded to bring women together to network, learn, and most importantly to co-invest. The main way women can get into this industry in ways they haven’t before is by becoming accredited investors and then getting into high quality ICOs early. This whole industry is a boys’ club—but the positive thing is that it’s a boys’ club very open and enthusiastic about smart women joining, so it’s important to network and meet the kind people who are of the abundance mindset. They will help you and be happy about it. Also, learn to practice this yourself. If there are women in your network, try not to see them as competition and instead figure out how your niches are different enough to help each other! There is room for every hardworking woman in the space.
Many of the successful founders in blockchain and crypto that I know started coding in their tweens. It would be great if all teenage girls had access to computers, internet, and a network of supportive people.
Another thing that would help young women to succeed in the space is to educate them on already existing blockchain and crypto platforms they can use to become financially independent. Augur, for example is a blockchain company that is creating a predictions platform. People will be able to log in, create markets, and make bets. Right now it’s in beta and users can go in and test it out with practice tokens. If we can get a bunch of young women learning how to use this system, they can be making real money on it within a couple of years. Learning how to make money online can give young women financial independence so they have more choices in life and can start their own companies if they choose to. At these conferences, I only meet about one female blockchain entrepreneur per every few hundred male blockchain founders.
Is it an equal playing field? Do women have access to the same opportunities and information, and how can they best make their mark in this industry?
I think if women help each other, read a bunch, and stay diligent; we can have the same opportunities as men. But we can’t wait for someone to put it in our lap and we have to be brave and face situations that might be uncomfortable. The best way for women to make our mark in this industry is by capitalizing on our skills. If you’re a badass marketing woman, find a powerful woman CTO (chief technology officer) and work together. We bring ourselves up by bringing ourselves together.
Contact Yasmeen Drummond at cryptoprincess@outlook.com, or find her on LinkedIn.
Women in Bitcoin and Blockchain Tech — An Opportunity
Digital Currency Group's Meltem Demirors discusses women's role in the budding industry of blockchain. She notes that women make up a minority of participants in blockchain and cryptocurrency—but many see room for growth. Opportunities abound for mentorship, education, and other ways to encourage and support more women in the growing and rich field, providing what Demirors calls "a tremendous opportunity."
Click through to read more about women's prospects in bitcoin and blockchain, current statistics and the environment and demographic makeup in cryptocurrency today, some of the women who are already standing out in the field, and more.
When I first started my journey down the bitcoin rabbit hole, I never expected to be surrounded by so many women. People always seem surprised that there are a lot of women who work on various problems — whether technical, academic, commercial, regulatory, or PR — in both bitcoin and blockchain technology.
It’s been fantastic to be surrounded by such a supportive group of powerful, highly intelligent women who are tackling some of the most challenging problems the budding bitcoin and blockchain technology community will face over the coming decades. One of the things that I’ve been excited about working on is more efforts to get diversity into the spotlight — it’s still very much a man’s world, and the stats reveal some exciting opportunities for our community.
Important caveat: This post is not intended to be critical, but constructive so I hope it comes across that way. Feel free to leave critiques in the comments or send me a note at meltem at dcg dot co if you want to provide feedback or talk offline.
Numbers Don’t Lie
Just looking at the DCG portfolio of companies we’ve invested in over the last 3 years, here’s what I found (full disclosure — using mostly publicly available information from company websites, CrunchBase, LinkedIn, etc. so numbers are intended to be directional, not absolute)
- Our 67 portfolio companies collectively employ 944 people (amazing!). Of those, 163 are women. That’s 17% which is on the low end for tech, but it is much higher than I anticipated. The geometric average (mean) per company was 12%.
- 23 of our 67 companies, or over one third, employ no women at all. None of these companies have over 10 employees. This suggests women are typically not involved in the early stages of company building, which may be because:
- The most common role for women is (in order) Executive Assistant, Office Manager, PR / Marketing / Communications, Regulatory / Compliance, Finance
- There were only 4 female engineers in my sample set. Overall, there are probably about a dozen female engineers in the entire space.
- The company with the highest ratio of women employed 50% women, and it was one of only a handful of companies that employed non-white females. The second highest employed 46%. The next was below 30%.
What I see from looking at these numbers is a tremendous opportunity. We can build the community we want if we all work together to address issues at all stages of the funnel. I would love to bring together all of the leaders in the bitcoin community and identify how we can all become more aware, more proactive, and more pragmatic in building a rich, diverse community of stakeholders.
Women in Blockchain: Carolyn Reckhow at ConsenSys
We've been following the series from Digital Currency Group highlighting women in Blockchain, and were inspired by this interview with Carolyn Reckhow, director of operations at ConsenSys. Reckhow discusses what interests and compels her about cryptocurrency, the applications and potential of Blockchain, her role at ConsenSys and what it means to be part of a burgeoning industry, her company's focus on consumer applications in the Blockchain industry, and more. Read an excerpt below, and click through to read more.
Connect with Reckhow on LinkedIn.
When did you get into bitcoin?
I never got into Bitcoin, though I followed it a bit on Reddit in 2011. What really captured my interest was the advent of Ethereum, in particular the way that it was presented to me from peers in law and social science academia — as a paradigm shifting technology with incredible social, economic, and political implications. I was getting a graduate degree in Boston in winter 2014/15 when I was introduced to some folks that quickly became friends. They were a melange of people working/studying at Harvard Law and the MIT Media Lab and had all been brought together by their interest in smart contracts and Ethereum. We formed an informal working group we called a “salon” where we gathered weekly and nerded out about DAOs, smart contracts, the sharing economy, and a variety of blockchain use cases. Primavera de Filippi (one of the salon members) invited me to attend the first COALA blockchain workshop in March 2015. I flew out to Palo Alto where I joined a hackathon team with two members of ConsenSys. We won the hackathon with Fabriq, a identity and reputation management app for communities built on Ethereum. Not long after working with the Fabriq team to launch a prototype in May 2015, I officially joined the ConsenSys team.
What did you do before you got into this?
I was in academia, specifically social sciences. Long before this I worked as a therapist/social worker….and I still definitely practice as a “therapist” everyday running Ops for ConsenSys.
What’s been the most interesting experience you’ve had in your role so far?
Just being a part of the “blockchain 2.0”/Ethereum industry as it has grown from a research project into helping Fortune 500 companies build production blockchain applications. That’s been exciting beyond belief.
Bitcoin: New Financial System or Same Old Boys' Club?
December 15, 2017
As the price of Bitcoin soared to record highs this week—$10,000, $15,000, then $17,000—the meteoric rise that turned early investors into paper billionaires fueled talk of how the cryptocurrency and its underlying technology, blockchain, could wholly remake the banking system. As MIT researchers argued in a Harvard Business Review article earlier this year: “Blockchain will do to the banking system what the Internet did to media.”
Among the many questions about the future of Bitcoin and its peers—Is it a bubble? Will it pop?—is whether the cryptocurrency industry, like its traditional predecessor, will be molded mainly by men.
Like so many other aspects of the relatively new and purposefully cryptic assets, an answer is difficult to pin down. There’s little data on the gender makeup of investors and entrepreneurs, but to women already in the field, it feels like cryptocurrency is following in banking’s loafer-shaped footsteps.