Female participation in the global crypto ecosystem has increased significantly in the last few years amid rising awareness and a wide range of trading opportunities. Just like FX, crypto is still a ‘male dominant’ space, however, the latest research reports indicate that the surging number of female crypto investors dwarves the growth of male users.
BTC Markets, an Australian crypto exchange led by the Chief Executive Officer, Caroline Bowler, witnessed an enormous jump of 175% in female users during 2021, compared to a spike of 80% in male users. The IRCI survey of 2,000 Australian investors showed that the female Bitcoin owners in Australia grew from 8.3% in 2020 to almost 16% in 2021. Countries across the world witnessed a similar growth trend in female crypto participation.
If we compare the FX market with crypto, the popularity of the latter has jumped significantly in the past decade mainly due to the status of crypto as an 'emerging' asset class. While the involvement of women in cryptocurrency trading has jumped substantially, the FX market found it difficult to match the rapid growth of women traders in the digital asset space.
But, why do female traders prefer crypto over FX? There are several factors behind that. Firstly, the cryptocurrency market is open 24 hours a day and seven days a week, compared to the FX market which has limited trading hours and no activity on the weekends. Secondly, barriers to entry in the foreign exchange market are more than crypto. Due to highly regulated FX markets, new entrants have to go through a broad list of requirements to start trading. On the other hand, the decentralized nature of cryptocurrencies allows users to spend less time on the client onboarding process. Thirdly, the emergence of DeFi, NFTs, and meme coins have allowed female cryptocurrency investors to trade in a wide range of products.
‘Not So Male Dominant’
Maria Stankevich, the Chief Business Development Officer at EXMO, believes that the rising participation of women in crypto has broken the stereotype of crypto being a ‘male-dominated industry’.
“Contrary to popular belief about the dominance of men in the cryptocurrency industry, statistics show that this stereotype is outdated. According to a study by Grayscale Investments, 43% of all those interested in buying Bitcoin in 2019 were women. Considering that only 3.5% of the ladies were interested in cryptocurrencies in 2016, it becomes clear that girls are starting to play an increasingly important role in the global crypto community,” she said.
Impact of Pandemic
The global outbreak of the pandemic in 2020 played an important role in the growth of female cryptocurrency traders. Women started exploring investing and trading opportunities across different financial markets. While it also impacted the participation of women in the FX market positively, the magnitude of growth across the cryptocurrency market was way more than the foreign exchange market due to the opportunities in the digital asset ecosystem.
“We see the same story at EXMO.com. The gender distribution of traders on EXMO is 43% women and 57% men. The number of female traders began to grow since the beginning of the pandemic, and the most significant growth occurred in the number of women aged 18-24 and 35-44. We discovered that often male traders involved their wives in their favorite business,” Stankevich explained.
‘Gender Doesn’t Matter’
According to Kati Aronson, the Co-Founder & CBDO at USDFX, gender is not a matter of concern in the cryptocurrency market.
“Technically all cryptocurrency investors are just a series of crypto wallets, and all dApps and smart contracts are just an audited code. And the code has no gender. In crypto, your reputation is based on your results, and your alignment to Bitcoin and web3 adoption. It was always like that. You don’t need to specify your gender to HODL and to be a Bitcoin maxi. You either belong there and are willing to support the ecosystem growth or not,” she noted.
Risk Taking
A recent report from BTC markets indicates that women are depositing money in large amounts but executing a small number of transactions. Gabriela Reyes, LivelyVerse's CEO & Co-Founder, believes that despite the risky nature of cryptocurrencies, women are more patient in their trading approach.
“I believe that this initial 'risky' behavior is a reflection of the confidence and possibilities women are seeing in this sector. First, it unlocks greater economic independence. Second, it can be combined with a day job or maternity – a fact that may also be reflected in the fact that women initiate fewer daily trades," she commented.
One of the major reasons why cryptocurrency trading is flourishing among women is that the overall participation of women in crypto is much more than in the FX market. Yi He, the Co-Founder of Binance, Flori Marquez, the Co-Founder of BlockFi, and Caroline Bowler, the CEO of BTC Markets, are some key figures who are leading prominent companies in the crypto ecosystem. Women compose nearly 30% of the workforce in the crypto industry. Keeping in view the latest surge in female cryptocurrency investors and the overall rise in the participation of women, it is safe to say that gender parity among crypto traders is in sight.
