These inspiring women made things happen, by using Crypto and Blockchain in 2021.

This year, new research showed that there’s still a long way to go before there is gender parity in the crypto and blockchain space. The survey Report of 2021, found that it will take nearly135.6 years to close the gender gap due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, that hasn’t stopped these women who used crypto in 2021and blockchain technology, to tackle a whole range of social issues ranging from girls’ education, in developing countries to the wealth gap in black communities in the United States.

In no particular order, these 10 women in 2021 are changing the world using crypto one block at a time.

Tavonia Evans:

Tavonia Evans is the founder and lead engineer of GUAP Coin, which she created to help close the wealth gap and support black-owned businesses in the United States. Despite being hospitalized with COVID-19 and facing sweeping funding cuts, Evans says that her company accomplished more this year than ever before.

This year, the company onboarded its first brick-and-mortar merchants. It also launched the xGUAP wrapper on Binance Smart Chain.

Lisa Wade:

Lisa Wade, was the 2021 recipient of Blockchain Australia’s Gender and Diversity Leader of the Year award, which recognized her work advocating for women and LGBTIQ+ people in the blockchain industry.

She is the founder of NEOMI, an investing ecosystem that connects charity entrepreneurs looking to raise capital with investors, looking for authentic impact investments.

Wade is also the chairperson of NAB Pride and pioneered the Australian bank’s “Rainbow Women” initiative, which gives LGBTIQ+ women, a space to speak about issues that are holding them back on career development in the finance sector.

Olayinka Odeniran:

Olayinka Odeniran is the founder and Chairwoman of Black Women Blockchain Council (BWBC), which is working towards increasing the number of black females blockchain developers to half a million by 2030.

Over the past year, the BWBC partnered with blockchain software company, Consensys to help African people throughout the globe get involved in crypto.

In case this wasn’t keeping her busy enough, she also released a social impact NFT collection CyberMermaid, through ocean conservation non-profit, The Dope Sea.

In 2022, Odeniran plans to host a month-long event for Women’s History Month in March, and release a new program to teach African women about NFTs and blockchain.

Maliha Abidi:

Maliha Abidi is a Pakistani-American author and internationally acclaimed visual artist. She founded ‘Women Rise NFTs’ this year. The collection of 10,000 NFTs, represent diverse women from around the world including activists, artists, scientists and coders.

The collection has been featured on the front page of Rarible and at DCentral Miami. Abidi also had an artist residency during Art Basel in Miami.

Abidi’s major project for next year, will be the creation of the world’s first metaverse school for marginalized children from around the world.

Lavinia Osbourne:

Lavinia Osbourne is the founder and host of Women in Blockchain Talks (WiBT), which is a female-led educational platform in the United Kingdom, where women can network and learn about blockchain.

This year, WiBT launched the 50k women into Blockchain by 2023 campaign, which  explained that women who used crypto in 2021, is for everyone as well as highlighted the different pathways to get involved in the space.

WiBT introduced a Middle East ambassador to expand their international reach to women and marginalized groups wanting to learn about blockchain technology, with translated versions of their educational material.

Jen Greyson:

Jen Greyson is a Utah-based advocate of Women’s Empowerment through Cryptocurrency, and a board member for Kerala Blockchain Academy (KBA) in India.

KBA trains women in STEM and blockchain to become leaders in the space. In 2021, it introduced several new blockchain courses, including two free foundation programs. The Academy trained close to 7,000 students this year, with over 6,000 students enrolling into the foundation programs in less than four months.

She said that, women who used crypto in 2021 blockchain training program, aimed to equip start-ups and individuals with the requisite knowledge, skills and attitude needed to crack into the sector.

Manasi Vora:

In May this year, Manasi Vora co-founded the Komorebi Collective on Syndicate, becoming the first investment DAO, focused on funding female and non-binary crypto founders.

She is also the founder of the non-profit, Women in Blockchain (WIB), which aims to provide a space for women to mentor each other about blockchain and crypto. Women who used crypto in 2021, aim to connect women to thought leaders in this space to inspire, collaborate and encourage others.

Roya Mahboob:

Roya Mahboob is not only an internationally-recognized activist, but was also one of very few female tech CEOs in Afghanistan, before being forced to flee in September this year when the Taliban took over control of the country.

She is the founder and CEO of Afghan Citadel Software Company (ACSC), where over half the employees are women. Because many Afghan women are unable to access a traditional bank account, she pays her employees in Bitcoin, she stated this in an August interview with CoinDesk.

Mahboob also sits on the advisory board of Ashford University’s Forbes School of Business & Technology, and recently created EdyEdy, a platform that helps young people from developing countries learn practical digital literacy skills.

Cleve Mesidor:

Cleve Mesidor is the author of My Quest for Justice in Politics & Crypto, and a former appointee of the Obama administration.

She was appointed as public policy adviser at Blockchain Association in March this year, and is a Mayoral Appointee for the DC Innovations and Technology Inclusion Council.

She is also the founder of the National Policy Network of Women of Color in Blockchain, and LOGOS, a social platform on the blockchain for activists.

Alakanani Itireleng:

The Botswanan “Bitcoin Lady”, Alakanani Itireleng, is the CEO of the Satoshi Centre, which educates members of her community on how they can make money from crypto and blockchain technology.

The self-funded center is in the process of developing an incubator, where start-ups will be able to network with potential sponsors or mentors.

She has campaigned for the Bank of Botswana, to regulate and legitimize Bitcoin as a legal currency ,and is also developing a local crypto wallet, that will be able to directly connect to regular ATMs.