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Women could improve the crypto industry

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7 min read

According to a study conducted by the platform BtcMarkets, the growth of female users accelerated rapidly during the year 2020-2021, with an increase of 172% compared to 79% growth for men.

The increase in the number of female investors is not anecdotal and also reflects the evolution of the financial landscape and in particular that of cryptocurrencies, which ultimately turns out to be less divisive, under the prism of gender.

However, women still remain a minority and gender inequalities are still evident. Indeed, in 2022, according to Pew Research Center, There are twice as many men investing in cryptocurrencies as women. While 20% of women between the ages of 18 and 29 said they were interested in cryptocurrencies, this is almost double for men in the same age group.

The ever-increasing presence of women in the crypto industry breaks the stereotype that finance is an industry reserved for men. Even if this is still true for Wall Street, it would seem that it is different for decentralized finance.

And that's good. It would seem, indeed, that the relationship between women and crypto should be considered reciprocal and no longer unilateral. As much as women are emancipated with cryptocurrencies, the crypto space will become more efficient.

Are women better investors?

Many studies on behavioral finance revealed that women are more risk averse in investment decisions, compared to men. There are several reasons that justify this behavior and the first reason to cite is that of social construction. In the majority of current cultures, women are taught to be more reasonable, to limit risk-taking, while men, on the contrary, are pushed to be more courageous, and therefore, indirectly, to take more risks. .

Another, more pragmatic explanation is shared by Lea Lejeune, economic journalist and founder of Cash Plan, an investment newsletter which explains that women are more reasonable -financially speaking- to the extent that they have lower salaries than men. Inevitably, having fewer resources, they would be less inclined to invest their money. QED.

These are not the only explanations for the difference in financial behavior observed between men and women, but we can sit down for a while with these readings to understand why women are less "degens" than their male counterparts.

? Word " Of people » is a diminutive of the English word "degenerate" which refers to the idea of "degeneration" and depravity. It is a term widely used in the cryptosphere to refer to the highly speculative trading behavior of some budding investors (usually in their twenties or younger). The behavior of people is essentially about seeking profit as quickly as possible, and buying tokens (and especially " shitcoins") in the same way he would buy and play in a casino. No financial analysis or investment knowledge is required to be a "degens".

This different behavior results in differences in the results and profits from investments. A study conducted in 2021 by Fidelity Investments concluded that women have better returns on investments than their male colleagues (by approximately 40 points). The study shows that by trading less frequently, they would still have much better results.

The study claims that female traders outperform men because they are more "patient, cautious and disciplined." The success of female traders is said to be due to better academic and financial education, particularly for women in Asia. trading platform Capital.com claimed, for example, that 37% of male users had a bachelor's or master's degree compared to 50% of female users.

The crypto industry dominated by men and women of people...

Degens have contributed to the rise of many practices that give bad publicity to the crypto ecosystem: Protocols built on Ponzi pyramids, worthless NFTs, scams of all kinds, price manipulation, shilling on shitcoins, venal marketing on networks, toxicities of debates, etc. Even more than bad publicity, it is above all self-destruction that this resembles. We could at least speak of self-sabotage to the extent that they are the first victims of their behavior. Understand that they are the ones who lost the most money (Cf the masterful fall of the Luna token, the closure of many platforms including FTX, etc.).

However, remember that the of people represent only a tiny part of the cryptosphere. By themselves, they convey the cliché of a bunch of immature and uninhibited masculinist men who practice trading like they play World of Warcraft. It's still a stereotype and let's remember that there are of course women of people who adopt and assume this type of financial behavior.

For BitGet platform founder Gracy Chen, the crypto industry is "a Wild West dominated by male speculators with a bro culture reinforced by recent scandals and the market crash," he says in the article published on forkast, which urges women to take on more key roles in investment and entrepreneurship. He adds that "women's engagement and leadership [can] help [create] a more positive work environment and improve product improvement."

Entrepreneur Gracy Chen is not the only one who shares this idea and more and more people are seeking gender equality in the crypto industry in order to improve it, in several aspects.

What can women bring to the crypto industry?

Author and speaker Andie Kramer, wrote an article on Forbes, titled » The Crypto World Needs More Women", in which she echoes Gracy Chen's comments. She elaborates on the point by explaining that "increasing gender equality in the crypto world would not only open up new career opportunities for women, but would also bring positive changes to crypto culture and increase its innovativeness."

It is based on research which shows that the participation of women in decision-making positions (at least 30%) drastically improves the company's product and commercial results. The independent Gallup research institute found that mixed-gender teams performed better than single-gender teams. This is thought to be because men and women bring “different perspectives, ideas and market information to projects.” Diverse leadership is thought to be more effective in solving problems that companies face.

In a way, the observations of Gallup make sense, because ultimately, gender diversity breaks down homogeneous “groupthink,” which then leads to less narrow-mindedness, and necessarily more creativity.

However, Andie Kramer says that including more women in decision-making positions is a real change in mentality. There are biases like the affinity bias, which consists of naturally appreciating people who are similar to us that we must overcome. It will also involve reducing discriminatory practices regarding career opportunities.

The author concludes by emphasizing the need to also modify the corporate culture which must fight against the exclusionary and denigrating behaviors that certain men may have within the professional space.

Feminist Organizations Against “Crypto Bro” Culture

When we look at the crypto landscape right now, we can see a male (or even masculinist) dominance in the space. For example, there are more male influencers and web3 entrepreneurs. Men are more visible because they also occupy more “visible” positions.

That there are trolls or convinced masculinists among them is not surprising either. We could cite a few small groups active on the networks but that would not really matter here. We can, Conversely, highlighting the work of some women to support the fight for gender equality in the crypto industry. There are more and more women in the crypto space, and that too is a fact.

Illustrator Yam Karkai created the collection World of Woman (WoW) in order to use the NFT space as a vector to advance gender equality. Many female celebrities active in women's causes such as Shonda Rhimes, Eva Longoria and Huda Kattan contributed to the promotion of the collection.

We can also cite even more extreme cyber-feminist groups such as the " Boys club » founded by the American activist Deana BurkeThe name chosen is certainly ambiguous because in reality, the “boys club” is open to all non-binary people who wish to learn about the field of crypto-assets.

Thus, facing groups supporting masculinism, we will find feminist groups facing us. However, there is no question of cutting corners or decrying that the crypto space is of one camp or the other.

Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies are tools, just like the internet or mathematics. In themselves, they are neutral tools and anyone can use them for the cause of their choice, without affecting their impartiality.

Final Thought

We are well aware that as a crypto newspaper, we use the same chestnut on the occasion of International Women's Day, March 8. We too took advantage of this special day not to systematically point out the underrepresentation of women in the crypto sector but to show, on the contrary, that there is a notable evolution. In fact, we have decided to use the current data available to us and not to dwell on outdated figures and statistics concerning gender inequality in cryptocurrency or in Tech.

The figures, and we want to emphasize this point, show a "positive" evolution of the situation of women in the crypto universe. More of them are becoming investors or creating businesses in Web3.

We of course hope that there are always more women entering this world and that men are more welcoming. Women have as much to gain from cryptocurrencies as cryptocurrencies have to gain from women. Everyone wins.

In the words of Andie Kramer, “As exciting and dynamic as the world of crypto is, its full potential will only be realized if women begin to play a greater leadership role.”

Please note: : No financial advice is given in this or any other article on zonebitcoin. This is information of which you are the sole judge and master. Be responsible with your investments and only invest as much as you are willing to lose.

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