Forbes sat down with Nyla Rodgers; the founder of Mama Hope, an NGO that advocates for global communities and aims to empower the disempowered by fixing our broken system; as well as the force behind the “Satoshi is Female” movement, which she uses to point out that the anonymous inventor of Bitcoin might very well be a woman, given the many qualities used to promote cryptocurrency and the blockchain that are considered “feminine” such as collaboration, inclusion, and a values-driven approach to currencies. Rodgers talked about why women need to be included in designing the new system—both to be more inclusive and equitable, and because women are in a unique position to identify what isn’t working in the current system. Click through to read the complete interview.
By Emily Joffrion, Women@Forbes
With over $830 billion in assets at its peak in January and an estimated 24,000 wallets each holding over $1 million worth of Bitcoin, cryptocurrencies are generating unimaginable wealth for the early players. Stories of overnight millionaires have ushered the blockchain revolution into the mainstream, bringing with it the potential to replace traditional financial markets and disrupt as many industries as the internet. This momentum includes a new crop of companies, projects and investments rushing to capitalize on this new market. But as we unlock this new potential in the time of #MeToo, Black Lives Matter and growing disillusionment with cultural power dynamics, one woman sees the blockchain as an opportunity to design a more equitable and inclusive system from the ground up.
Nyla Rodgers, the founder of Mama Hope, is a crypto-philosopher whose campaign, Satoshi is Female, challenges us to use the power of the blockchain to benefit humanity as a whole. The provocative slogan asks us to examine the nature of the blockchain itself when looking for the answer of who should lead the conversation. I sat down with Rodgers to hear more about the blockchain, cryptocurrencies and how to use this decentralized, global system to create a new paradigm of radical inclusion.
Emily Joffrion: Tell me about Satoshi is Female?
Nyla Rodgers: I believe that the blockchain is an inherently feminine way to move value across the world. And that’s because it’s collaborative, inclusive, values-driven and community-centered. It seems counterintuitive to assume that Satoshi, this unknown person (or persons) who wrote the Bitcoin white paper, is a man when the blockchain itself has so many characteristics that are feminine. And I feel like these feminine qualities represent a new way of operating in the world.
Image credit: Alex Colby
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