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Recent reports show an unprecedented increase in the number of women involved in the crypto market, some exchanges see a 160% surge.
It is widely believed that the cryptocurrency and blockchain sectors are almost exclusively male-dominated. However, a report released by CoinMarketCap on April 30 suggests otherwise. According to analysts, the number of women in the cryptocurrency industry increased by 43.24% in the first quarter of 2020.
Below is a breakdown of key factors that contributed to this record growth and why the numbers vary from region to region.
Women investing more in Bitcoin
A study published in December by Bitcoin (BTC) fund operator Grayscale showed that 43% of investors interested in Bitcoin are women — up from 13% last year — and this number is actively growing.
As global financial conditions tightened, many people began to invest in real estate, gold and cryptocurrencies. Assuming that females tend to be more pessimistic than males about the global economy, their confidence in cryptocurrency could significantly increase in 2020. As such, many women found a safe haven in digital assets.
Meanwhile, for others, cryptocurrencies became a promising investment. Blockchain entrepreneur Nisa Amoils pointed to the attractive investment opportunities of the market as one of the main reasons behind the growing interest of women toward digital money, telling Cointelegraph:
“Women can get more income through trading, investing and virtual spending of Bitcoin. And the token economy can democratize access to capital through, for instance, security token offerings.”
Many trading platforms have already seen an increase in cryptocurrency demand. For example, in March, digital currency exchange Coinbase noted the surge of deposits made by U.S. residents in the amount of $1,200 — exactly the same size as the coronavirus stimulus checks issued by the United States government.
At the same time, Bitcoin has doubled in value over the past two months, which, coupled with the recent halving event, has caused a stir around cryptocurrencies. Here, women have been just as competent as men. In particular, according to Grayscale, 49.8% of women predicted that Bitcoin’s limited emission would lead to its price growth in the future.
Crypto trading isn’t a “boy’s club”
The growth of the Bitcoin price as well as the investment attractiveness of digital money in general have contributed to an increase in the number of women in cryptocurrency exchanges. Thus, for example, cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb Global reported to Cointelegraph that the company witnessed a 30% growth in the number of its female users in 2020. Its vice president Vincent Poon explained that today’s women use digital money to hedge their funds, although not all trade proactively:
“I think women usually are less reserved when it comes to investing Bitcoin due to the technical piece of it and the volatility of the Bitcoin. I think they just are trying to diversify or hedge the portfolio and start looking at Bitcoin as alternate investment due to losing confidence in the traditional securities or economy as a whole during the pandemic. More women open accounts but not necessary trading though. They are exploring.”
Cointelegraph found out that the number of female users has grown between 22% and 160% on the majority of top crypto exchanges since the beginning of the year. Notably, digital assets exchanges CEX.io and EXMO saw the same increase in the number of female users as Bithumb Global.
Alexander Kravets, CEO of CEX.io U.S., shared the latest statistics with Cointelegraph: “As part of our overall user base, CEX.IO has seen a 26.86% growth of the female user segment from Q1 to Q2 of 2020.” Maria Stankevich, head of business development at EXMO, told Cointelegraph that the biggest growth occurred in the number of women aged 18–24 and 35–44. She added:
“We noticed that sometimes the other family members of VIP traders started to trade. Probably it is connected with the fact that they want to gain some new skills.”
United Kingdom-based crypto exchange CoinCorner revealed that the share of women among its users is now 14.7%, with a 47% increase in the number of female sign ups occurring in Q1 2020. Joanne Goldy, marketing specialist at CoinCorner, commented to Cointelegraph: “In the first five years at CoinCorner, we saw limited interest from female audiences, with sign ups slowly rising from 10% to 14% over that period.”
Meanwhile, OKCoin reported an even higher influx of women to its services. Hong Fang, CEO of the exchange, told Cointelegraph that there was an 80% increase in female traffic in Q1 2020, with 50% of these female users being net new users. She added that 40% of them were aged 25 to 34.
Taking the cake was Bitfinex, with a record 162% growth rate of new female users this year so far. Joe Morgan, the exchange’s senior public relations manager, told Cointelegraph:
“This growth clearly demonstrates an increasing interest in digital assets among women. As to why women are choosing to set up accounts with Bitfinex, perhaps this can in part be attributed to the diverse and inclusive nature of the business.”
Click here to read more from cointelegraph
