Women, that’s who. Why? Because women “get it,” according to the media. Over the past year, there have been a plethora of articles encouraging women to invest in virtual currencies, and, according to the Wall Street Journal, this effort is beginning to yield results.
The WSJ quotes Christine Brown, COO of Robinhood Crypto, as stating that one in four (25%) customers who traded crypto in 2021 was a woman. This is up substantially from the 10%-15% estimate provided by Real Simple in an article earlier this year. (A recent CoinDesk article puts the UK percentage of women investors in crypto at over 40%.)
The why speaks to at least four issues: the “democratization” of investing, the growth in the number of women controlling funds to be invested, the increased number of women in senior positions in investment houses, and the ability to invest in cryptocurrencies easily.
The enormous growth of discount and low-cost electronic trading platforms for traditional securities (stocks and bonds) gives anyone with a few dollars and internet access the ability to invest. These online brokerage firms are now beginning to trade crypto both directly and through companies – such as Coinbase – that trade in cryptocurrencies. This is occurring as women are entering the workforce (except for a pandemic-induced pause) in greater numbers, becoming more aware of the importance of investing, and utilizing technologies that democratize wealth building—technologies that did not exist just 5-10 years ago.
As Real Simple notes, the increasing leadership by women in the crypto world gives potential investors role models to follow, ones known for translating crypto-speak into accessible English. Three examples:
- Ria Bhutoria, research director at Fidelity Digital Assets, has posted a series of articles to Fidelity Digital Assets, Updates and Research. These include “Addressing Persisting Bitcoin Criticisms,” which Ms. Bhutoria updated in November of 2020 and reposted.
- Hester Peirce, SEC commissioner. She is both a leader in developing a digital assets regulatory framework and in promoting technological innovation in the financial markets.
- Kristin Smith, executive director of the Blockchain Association. Well known and well regarded in the Washington, DC policy arena, she is a leader in helping lawmakers understand the policy and regulatory issues involved in the blockchain world and in driving solutions to these issues.
These three are just a few of the women leaders in this field. (Longer lists are available from Glamour and Alexandria Blog, among other places.)
This brings us to the most recent numbers. According to a comprehensive report on the “State of U.S. Crypto,” published by Gemini, women exceed men as current investors in the 25-34 (by 6 percentage points) and 45-54 (by 8 percentage points) age groups. The study estimates that over 19 million U.S. adults could be entering the crypto market in the near future. Given Gemini’s results, a large number of them will be women. This will have a considerable impact on how firms market crypto, including advertising themes, and will boost the overall market for crypto currencies.
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