Cryptocurrency has become one of the hottest topics of discussion in recent times. With the rise of blockchain technology and digital assets, companies are building new financial infrastructure and innovative blockchain platforms that look to usher in a new era of finance. Unfortunately, this industry has historically been male-dominated, with only a handful of women in leadership roles.

According to a recent report by CoinDesk, women make up 8.5% of the total cryptocurrency workforce, which is much lower than the global average of women in the technology industry. However, there has been a significant increase in recent years, with the number of women in the industry nearly doubling since 2016.

In this report, we shine a spotlight on the women who are shaping the crypto, blockchain, and web3 industry. Despite the significant gender imbalance in the sector, with men often outnumbering women, these female leaders are making waves and driving change.

From founders and CEOs to developers and researchers, this report aims to showcase the diversity of talent and expertise among women in the industry, and to highlight the valuable contributions that they are making. By showcasing these female leaders, we hope to inspire and empower other women to pursue careers in the blockchain and cryptocurrency sector,  creating a more inclusive and diverse industry in the  process.

Below we have outlined 50 female crypto, blockchain, and web3 leaders that you should know..

Ophelia Snyder – Co-Founder & President – 21Shares

Ophelia Snyder is the President of crypto asset manager,  21Shares, which she co-founded in 2018. The firm offers a variety of products and services to both retail and institutional investors and raised funds last year that valued the firm at $2 billion. Prior to Co-Founding 21Shares, Ophelia worked in traditional finance at Evercore, UBS, and The Westly Group.

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Professor Dawn Song – Chief Executive Officer and Founder – Oasis Labs

Professor Dawn Song is a professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of California at Berkeley. She is ranked the most cited scholar in computer security (AMiner Award) and is a serial entrepreneur, including Ensighta Security (acquired by FireEye Inc.) and Menlo Security. She obtained her PhD from UC Berkeley.

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Kelly Loeffler – Co-Founder and ex Chief Executive Officer – Bakkt

Kelly Loeffler, an American businesswoman and politician, was the Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Bakkt which has since been acquired by Intercontinental Exchange. She has since served as a United States senator for Georgia from 2020 to 2021. Prior to Co-Founding Bakkt, Kelly was Chief Communications and Marketing Officer at Intercontinental Exchange for 16 years.

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Nathalie Oestmann – Chief Operating Officer – Outlier Ventures

Nathalie Oestmann is the Chief Operating Officer at Outlier Ventures, a firm that has been backing Web3 founders since 2014. Prior to joining Outlier Ventures, Nathalie was Chief Operating Officer at Curve, the high-growth UK FinTech. She currently serves as an Advisory Board Member for The Payments Association and started her career at Deloitte prior to spending 15 years in a variety of commercial positions at American Express. Nathalie has been included in various awards including Women In Fintech – The Standout 45 and Women in Fintech – Powerlist in 2016, 2017, and 2021.

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Juliet Su – Fund Partner –  NewTribe Capital

Juliet Su is a Fund Partner and Ecosystem Lead at NewTribe Capital, a Venture Capital firm based in Dubai. New Tribe Capital invests in early stage crypto and blockchain projects. Juliet refers to herself as a Technology Believer and a Desperate Dreamer. Today, NewTribe Capital has a portfolio of 185+ companies to date. The fund’s performance led to winning the ‘Best VC of the Year’ Award at the AIBC Summit Dubai in March 2022.

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Isral McGinnis – Co-Founder & Chief Technology Officer – OAK Network

Isral McGinnis was a Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer at OAK Network, a layer automation blockchain for DeFi and recurring payments across protocols. She led the engineering team through a period of growth at this San Francisco based startup backed by GSR, Greylock, and Electric Capital. Prior to Co-Founding OAK Network, Isral was an early engineer, technical leader and director of engineering at fintech company Blend through a high-growth period from Series B to Series E.

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Sarah-Diane Eck –  Founder – Lum Network

Sarah-Diane Eck is Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Lum Network, an open source protocol created in France in 2017. The Lum Network uses Cosmos SDK + Tendermint BFT blockchain technologies to introduce the first decentralised protocol for businesses to build authentic trust with their customers. Sarah-Diane first started her career at EY and moved into blockchain in 2016 – an early adopter.

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Sophie Guibaud – Co-Founder and Chief Commercial & Growth Officer – Fiat Republic

Sophie Guibaud is currently Co-Founder and Chief Commercial and Growth Officer at Fiat Republic, a Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) focused on simplifying Fiat flows for crypto companies. Prior to Fiat Republic, Sophie spent 10 years designing and executing the go to market of Banking-As-A-Service (BAAS) & Embedded Finance propositions in Europe including team and operation building.

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Anitha Gopalan – Chief Financial Officer – Fireblocks

Anitha Gopalan is currently Chief Financial Officer at Fireblocks, the firm helping thousands of organisations securely mint, transfer, and store crypto. She has led Fireblocks through a tremendous growth period and $550m of fundraising. Prior to joining Fireblocks, Anitha worked at technology and healthcare companies like Rhapsody, Catalant Technologies, Rapid7, iPass, as well as big four accounting firm, Ernst & Young.

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Jeanine Hightower-Sellitto- Chief Strategy Officer – EDX Markets

Jeanine Hightower-Sellitto is currently Chief Strategy Officer at EDX Markets, the scale-up crypto exchange backed by Charles Schwab, Citadel Securities, Fidelity Digital Assets, Paradigm, Sequoia Capital and Virtu Financial. Prior to joining EDX Markets, Jeanine was CEO at Atomyze and Managing Director at the well-backed and respected, Gemini. She moved into the crypto field after a stellar career in traditional finance at firms such as ISE Holdings.

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Macrina Kgil – Chief Financial Officer – Blockchain.com

Macrina Kgil is a proven financial leader, having served as Chief Financial Officer for two multi-billion dollar companies prior to her current role as Chief Financial Officer of Blockchain.com. Under her steady hand and efficient management style, she time and again built agile teams that enable high-growth businesses to achieve successful exits. Born in Korea, Macrina started her career at PwC as an auditor and now lives in New York.

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Maryam Ayati – Co-Founder – Watr Foundation & Komgo

Maryam Ayati is currently Co-Founder and Chief Executive of Watr Foundation, a blockchain protocol for real world assets and their financing. Prior to Co-Founding Watr, Maryam Co-Founded another successful blockchain company focused on trade finance, Komgo. Prior to entering the blockchain ecosystem, Maryam led and managed teams at Fortune 100’s.

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Kathleen Breitman – Co-Founder – Tezos

Kathleen Breitman currently Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer at Tezos, an open-source, Proof-of-Stake blockchain that can execute peer-to-peer transactions and serve as a platform for deploying smart contracts. Kathleen has extensive knowledge in Blockchain Technology and in 2014 alongside her husband released the white paper for Tezos. In 2017, Tezos raised $238m from notable investors including Boost VC, Dean Patrick , James Sowers, and Andreas Schwartz.

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Emilie Choi –  Vice President of Corporate and Business Development – Coinbase

Emilie Choi is President & Chief Operating Officer at Coinbase, she is also on the board of Okta, Inc. In her past career she held the position of Director-Digital Business Strategy & Operations at Warner Bros. Entertainment, Head-Corporate Development & Strategy at Yahoo, and Vice President-Corporate Development for LinkedIn..

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Simone Maini – Chief Executive Officer – Elliptic

Simone Maini is a leading voice on financial crime prevention and compliance operations in the crypto asset community and has held the Chief Executive Officer  title at Elliptic since 2020, she was Chief Operating Officer between 2016 – 2020. Prior to joining Elliptic, she held senior roles in investment banking, financial crime, and risk at Kroll and Deutsche Bank.

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Noelle Acheson – Director of Research – CoinDesk

Noelle Anderson is a speaker, writer and researcher focussed on technology-based business models, with a focus on bitcoin, fintech and digital media. Noelle spent 5 years at Coindesk heading up their research function, since then she has spent some time at Genesis. Noelle started her career in finance in London, Toronto and Madrid, she set up the first online party goods distributor in Spain in 2000.

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Caitlin Long – Founder and Chief Executive Officer – Custodia Bank

Caitlin Long is Founder & Chief Executive Officer of Custodia Bank and is a 22-year Wall Street veteran who has been active in bitcoin and blockchain since 2012. In 2018 she led the charge to make her native state of Wyoming an oasis for blockchain companies in the US, where she helped Wyoming enact 20 blockchain-enabling laws. Prior to moving into the crypto space, Caitlin spent several years working in traditional banking, running Morgan Stanley’s pension solutions business for 9 years.

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Diana Biggs – Partner – 1k(x)

Diana Biggs is a Partner at 1k(x), the early-stage token fund specialised in ecosystem growth. Her main focus is on supporting the fund’s portfolio companies with institutional connectivity and growth. In addition to her role at 1k(x), Diana is an Associate Fellow with Saïd Business School, University of Oxford, where she guest lectures on digital assets and blockchain technology. Diana was previously Chief Strategy Officer of Valour, a publicly-traded company focused on crypto and web3. Prior to Valour, Diana was the first Global Head of Innovation for HSBC Private Banking.

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Meltem Demirors – Chief Strategy Officer – CoinShares

Meltem Demirors is Chief Strategy Officer of CoinShares, a prominent  investment firm in the digital  assets space. Meltem oversees the firm’s managed strategies group and its New York office, and leads corporate development as a board director. Previously, she was part of the founding team of Digital Currency Group. She teaches at MIT and Oxford, and serves on the WEF Blockchain Council. Meltem leads CoinShares’ venture strategy and is an active angel investor, having invested in over 150 companies in the digital currency ecosystem since 2015. Prior to entering the crypto ecosystem, Meltem was a strategy consultant at Deloitte Consulting.

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Sabrina Wilson – Chief Operating Officer – Copper.co

Sabrina Wilson is currently Chief Operating Officer at Copper.co, a prominent company in the digital asset ecosystem. She joined Copper.co in 2022 after an impressive career in Financial Services. She spent a lot of her career at Citi and Deutsche Bank where she  was the Global co-Head of the Futures, OTC Clearing and FX Prime Brokerage business. In 2017, she was voted amongst the Top 100 Women in Finance (Europe) by Financial News.

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Kathryn Haun –  Founder – Haun Ventures

Kathryn Haun is Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Haun Ventures, a $1.5 billion venture capital fund focused on web3. Previously, she was a General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz, a Silicon Valley based venture capital firm and co-chaired its three crypto funds. She also serves on the Coinbase board, having joined as the company’s first independent director. Before becoming a venture capitalist, Kathryn spent a decade as a federal prosecutor with the U.S. Department of Justice, where she focused on fraud, cyber, and corporate crime.

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Marieke Flament – Chief Executive Officer – NEAR Foundation

Marieke Flament is a Chief Executive Officer of NEAR Foundation, a non-profit foundation that is responsible for contracting protocol maintainers, funding ecosystem development, and shepherding core governance. Prior to joining NEAR, Marieke spent time at a diverse range of companies that include Mettle, Boston Consulting Group, and Circle where she was Managing Director of Europe and Global Chief Marketing Officer.

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Elizabeth Stark – Chief Executive Officer  and Founder – Lightning Labs

Elizabeth Stark is a blockchain​ entrepreneur, educator and lecturer in computer science at Yale University. In 2016, she founded Lightning Labs, a developer of the Lightning Network — a layer-two solution that seeks to combat the scalability issues within the Bitcoin network. Lightning Labs raised a $70m series B earlier this year.

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Meirav Harel – Chief Operating Officer –  XMANNA

Meirav Harel is Chief Operating Officer of XMANNA – XMANNA combines GameTech, AdTech and Fintech for a new type of fan engagement. Prior to XMANIA, she was Chief Operating Officer at Bancor. She has been chosen for “100 most inspirational women in Blockchain 2020”, chosen twice for “Women in Fintech Powerlist ” by Innovate Finance UK. She has over  20+ years of experience in Finance, Technology, and creating award-winning Fintech Innovation.

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Galia Benartzi – Co-Founder – Bancor

Galia Benartzi is the Co-Founder of Bancor which was founded in 2017. The organisation raised $153 million through an Initial Coin Offering, and they have processed a billion and a half of conversions across 120 Ethereum-based currencies to date. Prior to Bancor, she was a Venture Partner at a well known VC and previously exited two tech startups, selling Mytopia to gaming giant 888 for $48 million dollars and Particle Code to Appcelerator.

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Stephanie Ramezan – Head of UK – Gemini

Stephanie Ramezan joined Gemini in 2021 and is now Head of UK for the cryptocurrency giant that offers custody, trading, OTC, and other services to the retail and institutional market.  Stepahnie was cited as one of the “Most-Influential Women in Blockchain” and nominated for the “Top 100 Women in Tech – Champion of Women Category, 2020”. Stephanie started her career at Bloomberg and has since held a variety of entrepreneurial roles.

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Gracy Chen – Managing Director – Bitget

Gracy Chen is Managing Director of Bitget where she is responsible for growth and expansion of global markets, strategy, execution, business and corporate development. Gracy started her career as a TV Host and Producer and was Chief Marketing Officer at XRSPACE in China prior to joining Bitget. Up until 2021, Gracy spent 5 years as a Global Shaper for the World Economic Forum.

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Gina Moon – General Counsel –  OpenSea

Gina Moon is General Counsel at OpenSea, the world’s largest NFT explorer and web3 marketplace.  During her tenure, she has built the legal, policy, government relations, and compliance teams. Prior to joining OpenSea, Gina was Associate General Counsel at Facebook, overseeing their Regulatory engagements and government investigations. Gina started her legal career in Private Practice at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP.

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Lisa Loud – Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer –  FLUIDEFI

Lisa Loud is Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of FLUIDEFI, the cloud-based software as a service (SAAS) platform for investors & financial institutions. The platform allows customers to manage, transact, transfer, and track digital assets and digital asset pools. Lisa has been deeply involved in the crypto ecosystem since 2017 serving as Head of Marketing for BitMEX before joining ShapeShift as Chief Operating Officer in 2019.  She started her career at Apple prior to Co-Founding her own firm and subsequently joining PayPal.

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Alesia Haas  – Chief Financial Officer – Coinbase

Alesia Haas has been Coinbase’s Chief Financial Officer since April 2018 and has seen the company through 4 funding rounds and their IPO in April 2021. Prior to joining, she served as the Chief Financial Officer for Sculptor Capital Management, Inc., a global institutional alternative asset manager. Alesia also sits on the board of ANGI Homeservices and Vimeo.

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Kate Rouch – Chief Marketing Officer – Coinbase

Kate Rouch joined Coinbase as their Chief Marketing Officer in 2021. She oversees Coinbase’s global brand, product and performance marketing. She joined the crypto giant after more than a decade at Facebook, most recently serving as Global Head of Brand and Product Marketing for Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger, Facebook app, Public Affairs and the Facebook company. At Facebook, Kate’s marketing teams were awarded with numerous awards, including two Silver Lions at Cannes.

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Nancy Gordon – Chief Product Officer (Loyalty and Rewards) – Bakkt

Nancy Gordon has served as the Chief Product Officer for Loyalty & Rewards of Bakkt since March 2021. Most recently, she was Managing Director in Ernst & Young’s Financial Services Consulting practice, where she provided customer growth strategies for firms seeking innovative approaches to drive top-line growth and optimise operating efficiencies. Prior to working at Ernst & Young, Nancy led product development for Chase Ultimate Rewards and led data transformation initiatives across JPMorgan’s consumer banking, investment banking, wealth & asset management and corporate functions.

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Laura Edelman – Global Head of Sales – Paradigm

Laura Edelman joined Paradigm, the largest institutional OTC liquidity network in crypto as the Global Head of Sales in 2021. She has been deeply involved in the crypto and blockchain ecosystem since 2019, in her previous role she was Head of Market Development at Bakkt. Before moving into crypto, she served in the traditional finance field at Intercontinental Exchange, SIX Financial Information, and BondEdge Solutions.

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Jennifer Wilde Anderson  – Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer – Wave Financial

Jennifer Wilde Anderson is Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer at Wave Financial. Wave Financial is an SEC registered investment adviser, managing over $1B in digital assets. Prior to joining Wave Financial, Jennifer was Chief Operating Officer at Wavemaker Partners, a venture fund focused on investing in seed and early-A investments in digital media and software companies

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Catherine Coley – Former US Chief Executive Officer – Binance

Catherine Coley is the former Chief Executive Officer of Binance.US, she parted ways with the firm in June 2021. Prior to joining Binance, Catherine was Head of XRP Institutional Liquidity at Ripple. Prior to moving into crypto, she served as a foreign exchange and treasury management advisor after five years on trading floors as a foreign exchange associate at Morgan Stanley in Hong Kong and London. Fortune 40 Under 40 in Finance, 2020

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Sonja Prstec – Head of Legal – Near Foundation

Sonja Prstec is currently Head of Legal at Near Foundation. Prior to joining Near, Sonja was Legal Counsel at Web3 Foundation and Chief Legal Officer at Bitnation. She has been in the crypto and blockchain ecosystem since 2017. She is skilled in European Law, Corporate Law, Civil Litigation, Contract Negotiation. Strong legal professional with diploma focused on challenging regulatory landscape.

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Fran Kenck – Chief Regulatory Officer – Gemini

Fran Kenck is Chief Regulatory Officer at Gemini, the leading crypto company led by the Winklevoss twins. She moved into crypto in 2020 and spent the majority of her career working in traditional finance in a variety of Regulatory and Compliance roles at notable companies such as Tassat Group, trueEX, and Chicago Climate Exchange. She is a strong legal professional skilled in Regulatory Requirements, Risk Management, Derivatives, Commodity Markets, and Start-ups.

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Jo Zhu – Partner, Crypto – a16z

Jo Zhu is currently a Partner at a16z crypto based in Santa Monica, she operates at the intersection of consumer and web3.  Prior to joining a16z, she led Product at Uber, DoorDash, and Cameo – marketplaces that bridged the digital and the physical parts of people’s lives. Jo got into crypto when she used Bitcoin for cross-country currency transfer from Canada to the United States.

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Helen Hai – Executive Vice President, Head of Global Fiat exchange – Binance

Helen Hai is Executive Vice President of Binance and has held a variety of positions at the crypto leader  including Head of EU, UK and Africa region, Head of Global Fiat, P2P and Custody business, also Head of Binance Charity Foundation. Heleb was named a 2015 Global Young Leader by the World Economic Forum, and she is co-chair of the Global Future Council on the Future of Consumption for the World Economic Forum. She received the 2015 African Business Icon Award, and was awarded as Officer of the National Order of Lion of Senegal in 2016.

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Mona El Isa – Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer – Avantgarde Finance Ltd

Mona El Isa is the Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Avantgarde Finance Ltd, a DeFi Service for Treasury Management, Asset Management & Dapp Developers. Prior to Co-Founding Avantgarde Finance, Mona Co-Founded Melonport AG, a Decentralised Digital Asset Manager. She has been active in the crypto space in 2016. Prior to moving into the web3 world, she was a former star-trader at Goldman Sachs, promoted to Vice President by the age of 26 and made the “Top 30 under 30” list in Trader Magazine in 2008 and Forbes Magazine in 2011 after profitably trading the 2008 and 2011 crashes.

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Eva Lawrence – Head of EMEA – Figment

Eva Lawrence is Head of EMEA at Figment, the firm that offers staking, middleware, and application layer solutions for investors and developers in web3. Prior to joining Figment, Eva was Chief Operating Officer at Arcane Crypto, a Nordic firm that develops and invests in digital asset products and businesses. She started her career in Traditional Finance at Merrill Lynch as a negotiator and then spent 8 years at Morgan Stanley where she was Head of Securities Lending Flow Trading for EMEA.

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Sendi Young – Managing Director Europe – Ripple

Sendi Young joined Ripple, the crypto, blockchain, and payments business  as their Managing Director overseeing their European efforts in June 2021. She joined Ripple following a five-year tenure at Mastercard, where she held leadership roles driving strategy, commercialisation, bank-fintech partnerships and business development. Sendi started her career with an Internship at Morgan Stanley before moving into the payments and fintech ecosystem.

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Abigail Johnson  – Chairman and Chief Executive Officer – Fidelity Investments

Abigail Johnson is one of the wealthiest, most powerful women in the United States, an American billionaire business who is currently the chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Fidelity Investments Despite Fidelity being a family-owned business, she worked her way up, joining Fidelity as an equity analyst in 1988. Abigail has been indirectly involved in crypto projects with the launch of Fidelity Digital Assets and their venture investments, notably their support for Coinmetrics where Fidelity joined the funding round alongside Coinbase, Castle Island Ventures and Highland Capital.

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Amanda Fabiano  – Head of Mining – Galaxy

Amanda Fabiano is Head of Mining at Galaxy and joined the firm from Fidelity where she was a senior program manager at Fidelity Investments’ Center for applied blockchain incubator. She began her career at Fidelity in October 2014 as a proposal indicator.

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Eser Torun – Chief Growth Officer – Outlier Ventures

Esen Torun is currently Chief Growth Officer at Outlier Ventures where she is responsible for investor relations, business development, and fundraising along with  other responsibilities at the crypto, web3, and blockchain accelerator. Prior to joining Outlier Ventures, Eser spent 4 years at Everledger, the blockchain supply chain platform where she held the Chief Growth Officer and Chief Of Staff responsibilities. Prior to moving into the crypto field, Eser spent 13 years at Barclays where she worked in Investment Banking after starting her career as an Associate at Citigroup.LinkedIn

Avery Akkineni  – President – Vayner3

Avery Akkineni serves as the President of Vayner3, previously known as Vayne NFT, a company that employs 50+ Web3 experts, NFT enthusiasts, and blockchain believers. Prior to joining Vayner3, Avery was Head of VaynerMedia covering APAC as its Managing Director. She started her career as a team leader at Target before joining Google as an account manager before becoming a business manager.

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Kristin Smith – Executive Director – Blockchain Association

Kristin Smith is the Executive Director of the Blockchain Association, the Washington DC-based trade association representing more than 90 of the industry’s leading companies. Kristin serves as a liaison between policymakers and the cryptocurrency industry to assist in the creation of legislation and regulation. Prior to leading the Blockchain Association, she helped blockchain and technology companies achieve their public policy objectives in Washington, serving as a Senate and congressional aide on Capitol Hill for nearly ten years, much of which was spent focusing on technology policy. Kristin is an advisor to multiple start-ups and serves on the board of Filecoin Foundation for the Decentralised Web and Skybridge Capital’s G and GII Funds.

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Erin Brown – Chief Operating Officer – Galaxy

Erin Brown is currently Chief Operating Officer at Galaxy, formerly known as Galaxy Digital, the US crypto giant operates across Trading, Asset Management, Principal Investments, Investment Banking, and Mining. Erin is a seasoned executive with significant experience in treasury, risk and trading operations. Prior to joining Galaxy, Erin was Chief Risk Officer at Jump Trading and Head of Global Treasury and Operations at DRW. She started her career at Citadel in 2001 as a Treasury Analyst covering Global Energy and Credit.

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Kristina Campbell – Chief Financial Officer – Ripple

Kristina Campbell joined Ripple, the firm best known for its global payments network that serves 40+ countries as its Chief Financial Officer in April 2021. She was bought in to drive Ripple’s financial strategy, accelerate growth, and deliver value to shareholders. She most recently served as Chief Financial Officer at PayNearMe and previously held multiple positions at Green Dot such as General Manager GoBank and Vice President Operations . Kristina started her career as an Associate at Citigroup.

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Stella Dyer – Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer – Millicent Labs

Stella Dyer is an award-winning senior executive and entrepreneur. Prior Co-Founding Millicent Labs, she spent the majority of her career at the forefront of global finance, including C-Level positions at multi-billion dollar private equity firms. Stella has worked at JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley – where she first gained exposure to the tech industry as an investment banker, and then at Goldman Sachs, as Business Unit Manager for the Global High Technology Investment Banking Group. Early in her career, as a petroleum geologist, she led the initial discovery of a substantial oil bearing horizon in the province of Alberta, Canada, an initial discovery of 250 million barrels of recoverable oil, ultimately exceeding 1 billion barrels.

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Crypto Markets: From Hero to Villain

2022 will be earmarked as a year to remember for those working within the digital asset space. We’ve seen heroes become villains (here’s looking at you SBF & Do Kwon), the rise and subsequent fall of a certain algorithmic stablecoin, the collapse of a hedge fund, and the demise of many centralised crypto lenders who had a thing or two to learn about risk management.

The failures of 2022 have left many people calling for increased regulation within the sector – and rightly so. However, despite confidence in the space being at a low, it is important to remember that none of these failures were a failure of crypto. DeFi has functioned near perfectly throughout the year, building goes on, investment money continues to be raised and more and more people are HODLing crypto than ever before. So despite what the mainstream media may preach, crypto definitely isn’t dead.

Looking forward into 2023, market participants should keep in mind that several factors may continue to impact the crypto market. These include the overall economic climate, regulatory uncertainty, and a lack of trust in cryptocurrency. However, it’s important to note that despite these challenges, the development and adoption of digital assets continues at an unprecedented rate as more and more people look to propel themselves headfirst into this rapidly evolving industry.

. . .

The State Of The Job Market: Crypto

Blockchain technology – in its numerous forms – has benefited from an influx of investment over the past few years, whether this be within DeFi, NFTs, tokenization, CBDCs, lending protocols, custody solutions… The list goes on!

According to PWC, “total fundraising count and deal value have experienced significant growth in H1 2022 compared to H1 2021. While average fundraising deal values have fallen, there has been a significant increase in seed rounds”

Source PWC

This suggests that despite uncertain market conditions, investors are still looking for opportunities within the crypto sector – even if they are being more cautious amidst market conditions.

More fundraising tends to correlate with more growth – and with growth comes the demand for talent. In 2022, developer activity remained stalwart, despite the market downturn.

 

 

The number of people working within top blockchain companies has also increased by 219%, from 14,840 to 32,500 in 2022.

 

 

The collapse of Terra Luna saw hiring slow down in the latter half of the year, with numerous crypto firms making high profile redundancies across the board.

 

 

Many feared that the collapse of FTX would bring about a similar fate, however, this doesn’t seem to be the case – yet. CryptoJobList recently asked companies with exposure to FTX and Solana three questions, and the answers may surprise you…

• Has the current situation forced the company to lay off employees?
• Has any offer been rescinded?
• If you guys were hiring before the event, have you stopped hiring?

Answers:

• 93% said it didn’t affect their hiring. Many companies mentioned that they were not hiring previous to the scandal;
• 100% confirmed that they did not rescind offers;
• 89% said they didn’t fire anyone.

Although it is impossible to assess the health of the crypto job market, the lack of redundancies being made in wake of FTX’s bankruptcy makes the situation look better than you might imagine.

Going into 2023, we actually expect to see many leading crypto companies strengthen their rosters as both the macroeconomic and crypto environment slowly improves. In fact, many believe that top talent from traditional finance and distraught crypto firms will find new homes at crypto unicorns in 2023.

. . .

A Look Back On DeFi Rec’s 22’

What we have achieved:

Connected with some amazing talent and firms within the crypto space at numerous high profile conferences, industry meet-ups and networking events.

• CCDAS
• Consensus
• Token2049
• DAS

 

DeFi Recruitment became a member of CryptoUK – a trade association for the UK crypto asset industry, established to promote higher standards of conduct. We regularly join regulators, policymakers and other CryptoUK members at industry events, looking to promote digital assets through the pursuit of supportive policies and regulation.

Events aside, we worked with some great companies – from both traditional finance and crypto – across Europe and the US, helping to place candidates in a wide variety of roles ranging from junior to C-suite and executive positions.

In under six months, we made 25+ permanent placements at Director, VP, and Executive level with 0 rebates

 

 

In one particular case, we worked closely with an early stage crypto asset manager which was looking to scale up its product strategy and fundraising teams. DeFi Rec successfully helped build out their fundraising, strategy, and operations team.

And finally, we have undergone a complete rebrand and website build.

. . .

Looking Forward to 23’

2022 was great, but we plan on making 2023 our best year yet.

In 2023, we plan to make strategic hires to grow the team and spread the reach of DeFi Rec even further. It may sound cliche, but we want to be the one stop shop for crypto and DeFi recruitment, and a strong and diverse team is vital if we are to achieve this goal.

You can also expect to see the DeFi Rec team at more industry events in the DeFi and blockchain space next year, from Consensus to Paris Blockchain Week and beyond. These events are a great opportunity for us to connect with other industry leaders, showcase our services, and find top talent to join our (and your) team.

We genuinely believe digital assets have the power to revolutionise the financial industry. That’s why we’re dedicated to promoting the growth of companies in the DeFi space and connecting top talent with the best positions. By fostering the adoption of digital assets, we can help shape the future of finance for the better – and this is something we intend to do into 2023 and beyond.

. . .

Are you a company looking to grow your team in 2023? Or are you a talented professional looking to join the exciting world of crypto? If so, DeFi Recruitment wants to be your partner in success. No need to wait for New Year resolutions for a change of career, instead reach out to us today.

What happened to FTX?

The digital asset space has recently been witness to one the quickest falls from grace in its history. Earlier this month, FTX and Alameda Research, previously a leading crypto exchange and trading firm, filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy. For those who haven’t seen, here’s a quick rundown of how the events played out:

• On Nov. 2, CoinDesk reported that Alameda Research, SBF’s quantitative crypto trading firm, had issues with its balance sheet
• On Nov. 6, CZ, the founder and CEO of the largest crypto exchange, Binance, announced that it would sell all of tis FTT holdings (FTX’s exchange token).
• FTX claimed that there were no ongoing issues at FTX
• Then FTX’s exchange token, FTT, saw its price tank
• Shortly after, this headline appears: FTX Agrees to Sell Itself to Rival Binance Amid Liquidity Scare at Crypto Exchange

Although the purchase of Binance was unexpected by many, the number of people who thought it was actually going to go through was even smaller – and although the full extent of the aftermath is yet to be seen, It is likely things are going to get worse for crypto before they get better.

For comparison, many market participants are comparing this collapse to 2008 – dubbing it cryptos Lehman Brothers moment. During this time, similar activity was unfolding – with banks using customer funds to support highly risky speculative activity.

Unfortunately, in its current state, the cryptocurrency market enables this kind of activity. Lack of regulatory clarity means that exchanges are able to use money they receive from customers to fund other business transactions – ultimately allowing exchanges to act as banks – if they are so inclined.

What does this mean?

Simply put, FTX, in its current state, is unable to honor user withdrawal requests for any funds stored on its platform as it was lending this money out to try and generate yield. This is actually considered normal practice in the banking world – however, traditional banks are regulated, insured, and must adhere to frameworks and disclose their financial liabilities. These factors create an environment in which market participant funds are safeguarded – to an extent.

For example, if you give £1 to your bank, it would proceed to lend your £1 out to other banking customers to generate a return on your money. However, FTX wasn’t just lending you money out to generate yield,  instead, it was engaging in degenerate activity, allowing customers to borrow absurd amounts of cash to partake in risky trades.

The above activity is actually ok, when you employ proper risk management. Where FTX failed, however, was when SBF started using FTT (a token created by FTX) as collateral for loans between the exchange and its sister company, Alameda. A CoinDesk report showed that Alameda listed $3.66 billion of “unlocked FTT” and $2.16 billion of “FTT collateral” as assets on its balance sheet as of June 30.

“If the exchange issues a huge number of tokens and holds them on their balance sheet, only offers a small number of those tokens for trading—restricting the ‘free float,’ which can create an artificially high valuation—and uses the locked tokens on its balance sheet as collateral for loans, this creates a systemic risk because the collateral’s paper value isn’t real,” Matt Hougan, CIO at Bitwise Asset Management, told Fortune. “If the loans get called, the exchange may be insolvent.”

The issue? Well, the lion’s share of a multibillion-dollar fund lies in the native token of its partner company, which not only has little utility, but also little demand. As such, the unwinding of FTT meant that Alameda saw its balance sheet reduced to ashes in front of its eyes – meaning it could not honor liabilities. Thus, all it took was a significant decline in the price of FTT to bring down the once mighty firm and SBF’s crypto empire.

Wait a minute… should this be allowed?

Should exchanges be able in place of banks? No, they shouldn’t – or not yet, anyway. Crypto and consumer protection doesn’t exactly go hand in hand at the minute, but the industry should be doing everything it can to safeguard market participants. What this means is that until the industry is properly regulated and exchanges disclose their liabilities, provide insurance and operate in a more transparent way, then it is unlikely playing with this kind of fire will ever end well.

So given the insistence of crypto-natives to avoid the failings of traditional finance (TradFi), what has the reaction been from people in the industry?

Proof of reserves

The issue around FTX was the lack of transparency, liability and disclosure of its use of customer funds. One of the most reasonable replies to this misfortune has been for “Proof of Reserves”, in an attempt to rebuild consumer confidence and restore credibility to digital asset exchanges.

While it might be seen as too little, too late, there has been a swift and thorough response to the events of the last few days which has seen numerous exchanges, including Binance and Crypto.com, provide transparency about exchanges holdings and liquidity.

Although this is a step in the right direction, proof of reserves in itself is not enough to help heal the wounded industry. Exchanges need to want to make these changes for the better of the industry, looking to empower consumers and market participants, not prey on them.

Conclusion

It may be a dire time for the digital asset industry, however, we want to remind you that crypto isn’t going anywhere – it is going to play a big role in the future and top firms around the world are gearing up for the next phase of adoption. If you want to get involved, then reach out to us at info@defirec.com.

Trying to get a job in Crypto or DeFi? Look no further, it’s what we do.

Why work in Crypto & DeFi?

Since 2009, Bitcoin has outperformed nearly every other asset class in existence. What started as a niche movement, has evolved into a burgeoning financial system that is now attracting some of the largest institutional players in the space.

However, the price of Bitcoin isn’t the only thing that has exploded – crypto-based roles on  LinkedIn have also spiked, increasing nearly 400% between 2020 and 2021, as some of the smartest and brightest minds look toward crypto for their next opportunity.

In 2022, the industry has encountered some speed bumps, with 1,700 people reportedly losing their jobs in June alone. However, despite what many critics are proclaiming, it isn’t all doom and gloom. The crypto market remains alive – with many industry leaders, such as Binance and Kraken, ramping up their hiring efforts.

Funny thing is, they aren’t alone. Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), one of the biggest VCs in the space, recently created a mammoth $4.5 billion fund to invest in crypto and blockchain companies. What does this show? That the big players haven’t moved their focus away from crypto, and neither should you.

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Opportunities are rife for those looking to enter the space, and if you are interested in working for a crypto or DeFi company, there is no better time than the present – for the demand for people with crypto and DeFi skills is higher than ever.

What is DeFi?

DeFi, short for Decentralised Finance, allows you to do everything that your bank does, without the need to jump through 15 hoops or sign a short novel worth of paperwork.

Simply put, It allows everyday people to gain access to financial services, such as earning interest, borrowing, lending, purchasing insurance, trading derivatives, assets, and more, without the need to go through a broker or bank.

DeFi markets don’t require anyone’s permission and never close, so you can trade, send money or interact with whomever you want, whenever you want – all you need is an internet connection, a wallet and some crypto!

Why should I work in DeFi?

Why should you consider transitioning to this new, highly volatile sector? A few thoughts spring to mind:

Join A Fast Growing Industry & Help Build A Fairer Financial System

Crypto is a unique industry. The room for growth is almost unparalleled and the industry is still in its infancy – meaning anybody who joins now, will be helping to pioneer and develop the space.

Want to find out more about who is hiring and what kind of roles they are looking to fill? Check out our previous blog post here.

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There Is Huge Demand For Good DeFi Candidates

Blockchain-based roles, including DeFi and crypto roles, have seen unprecedented growth as people look to skill up and work for the firms ushering in this new era of finance. Given the infancy of the sector, finding thought leaders and experts in their craft is more challenging than you might anticipate – especially considering how niche some of the skills are!

This is the perfect opportunity to get your foot in the door at the next tech unicorn or start learning a new skill in an exciting and unique industry.

Dive Into An Inclusive and Global Culture

DeFi is all about creating an inclusive and fair financial system that gives equal opportunities to all. As you can imagine, this ethos is echoed throughout the industry. Crypto is a truly global office – the vast majority of roles allow you to work remotely and many teams come from a variety of different backgrounds and cultures.

Your Earning Potential Is Higher

Well, amongst other things, the salary and rate of career progression are considered to be much higher than average. For example, an entry-level smart contract developer could earn between $90,000 – $150,000 annually, with that only growing further as more high-level roles start to surface.

Not a dev? Don’t worry – DeFi isn’t a sector reserved for the technically savvy – and anyone with an active interest in cryptocurrencies or decentralised finance already has a huge advantage. From senior engineers to operation managers, product leads, PR and communications specialists, community managers, marketing leads, and many, many more.

 

Kickstart your career in DeFi

The best way to kickstart your career in DeFi? Be passionate about it – attend events, get involved with communities, keep up to date with the latest trends –what might start out as a hobby may naturally develop into something more.

Want a headstart? We’re here to help. Every month, we help place numerous candidates in high-profile blockchain and DeFi roles.

On the other side of the pool and struggling to find? Share your job spec with us and let us do the hard work – you never know, someone in our database of candidates could be your next employee of the month.

Reach out to us at info@defirec.com to find out more.

 

Diversity and Inclusion in the workplace is a hot topic right now. We as consultants, are often questioned by senior leaders and TA teams about ways to improve diversity in the workplace. As such, I felt I would write a brief article to share with my network which outlines the importance of attracting, creating, and retaining a diverse workforce.

Diversity and Inclusion in the workplace is much more than gender diversity, it should reflect the universal makeup of society. Your organisation should consist of a variety of people, from different backgrounds who bring different life experiences. This can include gender, experience, age, socio-economic levels, race, religion, sexual orientation, and so on.

Why is a diverse workforce so important?

Diversity boosts employee engagement.

Employees are far more likely to voice their opinions if they feel that others will listen to and acknowledge their point of view. Having a diverse workplace where a range of voices are heard and accepted encourages employees to actively engage in their work environment, resulting in higher levels of productivity, increased retention, and overall business success.

Diversity fosters creativity.

It is imaginative business ideas that set companies apart from one another. Employing a diverse group of people can help generate a wider and more varied pool of ideas that will give you an advantage over competitors. A BCG study reported innovation revenue to be 19% higher than that of companies with below-average leadership diversity, showing a close correlation between diversity and innovation.

Diversity cultivates innovation & investment.

Diversity gives you access to a greater range of talent, not just the talent that belongs to a particular worldview, age, or other restricting definition. Diversity helps provide insight into the needs and motivations your entire customer base. An example being that age diversity will bring experience and problem-solving methods from people with different historical experiences. These ideas will bring and attract investment. The same is said for businesses who employ an ethnically diverse workforce or a religiously diverse workforce. If you have not watched it, ‘The Intern’ is a noteworthy movie which highlights the above point.

Diversity streamlines the recruitment process.

A study conducted by Glassdoor found that two-thirds of active and passive job seekers said that a diverse workforce is an important factor when evaluating companies and job offers. Having a diverse workforce attracts more applicants to your business.

Creating a diverse workforce.

It is all well and good aiming to have a diverse workforce, but if your organisation does not deliver an environment in which that diverse workforce will be enticed to and thrive in, then this is the first thing to address.

Below are a few ideas as to how you can make your organisation and workspace more attractive to a diverse talent pool and in turn, increase diversity across your organisation:

1. Convert all job descriptions to gender neutral. Using the term ‘he/she’ may previously have been considered inclusive, but recruiters and internal teams should consider shifting towards pronouns such as ‘they’ in advertisements. This will help to ensure they are not discouraging talent who may not adopt conventional gender patterns. Furthermore, it is crucial to check the use of gender-associated words in the job description, examples of this could be the word ‘dominant’, this may discourage certain groups from applying to the position. There is a couple of platforms online which will highlight and change gender-coded words.
2. Write job descriptions which are achievable, rather than a wish list. Consider the use of results-based job descriptions. Studies have shown that men will apply for a job if they meet 60% of the criteria, whereas women will only usually only apply if they meet 100% of them. Instead of job descriptions being based on a checklist or wish list of skills, job descriptions should ideally focus on what your new hire will be expected to achieve, a month, six months, and a year into the job.
3. Establish diversity and inclusion early in the employee life cycle. Throughout employee onboarding, clearly convey why in your company D&I is important, how you define it, and steps you are taking to encourage D&I this in the workplace. Be primed to answer any questions your new hires have about what your company is doing to move the diversity needle and be open to their own suggestions. As mentioned earlier, new ideas are one of the benefits of a diverse workforce, you need to show you value your employee’s views and ideas.
4. Allow flexible work hours. Show your employees you trust them to get their work done with the freedom to create their own work hours, where applicable. People have all sorts of personal situations that may affect their ability to work a strict 9 to 5. Lack of flexibility makes the lives of some employees unreasonably difficult, and they may respond by leaving for a company that can provide flexibility. Flexibility in the workplace is crucial. Studies show that 78% of the employees feel their productivity improves when work schedules are flexible. And 77% consider flexible work arrangements a key consideration when assessing job prospects.
5. Market your success. As I mentioned earlier in this article, two thirds of people believe that a diverse workforce is an imperative factor when choosing a new position, if you do not show that you are achieving D&I goals, perspective hires may choose another company who has.
6. Education. This is the most important point, make sure your entire workforce is educated on the importance of a D&I and that they are welcoming and helpful to new starters.

When it comes to building a successful and sustainable business in a global market, D&I is key. Businesses can no longer simply rely on carrying out their main business function. You have to take a stand, practice what you preach, and engage in corporate and social responsibility.

Blockchain, Crypto, and DeFi experience is the most in demand skill, according to the latest skills index and now, it is one of the hottest job market categories.

Did you see this technology trend appearing? A few years ago, limited people cared for this technology. However, it has become a significant career opportunity and can prove very lucrative.

The demand for people with Blockchain, Crypto and DeFi skills, experience, and knowledge is higher than ever. Businesses are looking to hire those who have the skill set to navigate this new, exciting technology. Of course, just like with any other opening, not everyone ‘cuts the mustard’. You must possess or be able to acquire the skill set which is required to be successful in the blockchain field.

Who is hiring?

There are four significant sectors or verticals in the crypto and blockchain job market, these are:

• Industries – companies such as banks, accountancy firms, insurance, retailers as well as law offices that want to keep up with the new technology.
• Start-up’s – businesses and products created since the invention of Blockchain. This is an everchanging landscape due to weighty investment.
• Tech firms – companies that have the most to lose in case Blockchain tech takes over the world. As they try to shift to a decentralized system, they need all the expertise they can gather to ensure they are not left behind. An example is IBM’s recent investment of $200million for internal R&D.
• Governments – many governments have been hiring crypto experts to advise them. Several governments are warming up to Blockchain due to its many advantages.

Career opportunities in Blockchain

Blockchain, Crypto, and DeFi businesses are like any other organisation which operates across the globe. Yes, their teams might be tech heavy with a large percentage being Developer’s or Engineers. However, as with any business, they are commercial entities with the main function being creating revenue, therefore, their set-up will be like any other business. Roles within the space include:

• Developers (Golang, Rust, Python, Web3)
• Solidity Engineers
• Project Managers
• UX Designers
• Quality Engineers
• Legal Consultants and Copywriters
• Accountants
• Sales and Business Development and Marketing
• Financial Managers
• Public Relations and Content Specialists
• Analysts
• NFT and Digital Artists

How to get involved or hired in the space:

Network, attend events and create relationshipsDo your research, keep up to date with industry trendsBe flexible; these careers come in many formsLove Crypto, Blockchain and DeFi (this one goes without saying).

As the technology evolves, so will its professional landscape. Whether you are a techie or not, a career in Crypto, Blockchain, or DeFi is a new and exciting opportunity well worth exploring.