A new crypto collective, known as BFF, has launched with a mission to help women and non-binary people come to grips with crypto and Web3.
BFF wants to demystify crypto trading, wallets and NFTs with the goal of helping them into the multi-trillion-dollar opportunities in a field that is 81% dominated by men.
The organisation’s 50 founding members are drawn from crypto, technology, design, business and even Hollywood.
As these new technologies will fundamentally change the nature of work, financial transactions, and create ownership of both virtual and real-life assets, the group doesn’t want this domain dominated by men.
“Whether you're an artist, entrepreneur, or any type of digital user, you should learn about what's coming. There's a new era emerging, and you deserve a seat at the table,” the group states in its mission statement.
Broadening crypto opportunities
BFF recently held its first virtual event – an introduction to NFTs and crypto for beginners.
It was co-founded by Brit Moran, an entrepreneur and investor working for the last few years in crypto, after realising women were under-represented across the industry.
Her co-founder, Jamie Schmitt, an artist and creator that has founded several successful brands, is now working at the intersection of Web3 (or ‘Web 3.0’) and consumer brands, and wants to help other women into the sector.
Together with the other founding members, the organisation wants to empower women and non-binary people to engage in this emerging field of technology.
“We want to expose a broader group of interested, like-minded women to the world of crypto. We have been largely left out of this conversation and watched a lot of these bros get together and earn a lot of money, and we deserve to be in this space just as much,” actress and entrepreneur Gwyneth Paltrow, one of the founding members, told the recent BFF event.
More groups working to increase women’s participation
BFF isn’t the only organisation looking to improve the diversity mix in Web3 industries and working towards ensuring cryptocurrency can help improve diversity in the financial sector.
Global Women in Blockchain is an umbrella organisation working to develop connections, association, forums and events to advance women in blockchain and STEM technologies with country representatives including in Australia.
Black Women Blockchain Council, founded by Olayinka Odeniran, wants to increase the number of tech founders of colour and improve diversity and inclusion in blockchain, with a mission to lift the number of black female blockchain developers to half a million by 2030.
Likewise, The Bigger Pie wants to improve women’s participation across the blockchain, crypto asset and distributed ledger sectors.
Also playing in the arena is CryptoChicks, a global non-profit member organisation helping women around the globe to learn and invest in blockchain.
Across crypto and blockchain industries, there are also a growing number of female-led NFT projects like World of Women.
Yet there’s still much progress to be made, considering statistics like three-quarters of all crypto holders are men, according to Gemini’s 2021 State of US Crypto Report.
