Every week in the past, CoinTelegraph printed a “ladies who kicked ass in crypto” piece wherein just one non-American or non-European girl (Maya Parbhoe) was talked about.
As a result of I really feel that what’s taking place with Bitcoin in Africa, Latin America, The Center East and Southeast Asia — areas the place bitcoin is extra typically used as a forex and a cash of final resort — is much extra thrilling than what’s taking place in the USA and Europe, I’m right here inform you about some women within the Bitcoin house from these areas who kicked ass in 2024.
Farida Bemba Nabourema — Nabourema is a long-time activist and human rights defender, initially from Togo. She’s additionally the first organizer for the African Bitcoin Convention, which, for the final three years, has offered Africans with an unimaginable alternative to current to and community with Bitcoiners from across the globe.
Reyna Chicas — Chicas is a Salvadoran was promoted to Director of Schooling for Mi Primer Bitcoin this yr, and she or he additionally sits on the group’s board of administrators. Her journey in Bitcoin began simply two years in the past when she went to the Adopting Bitcoin convention in El Salvador as an attendee.
Roya Mahboob — Mahboob is considered one of Afghanistan’s first feminine tech CEOs. She additionally based the Digital Citizen Fund, a non-profit geared toward enhancing technological literacy of Afghan ladies. This yr, she’s continued in her efforts to create IT facilities for ladies in excessive colleges throughout Afghanistan and in addition convey her training mannequin to varsities in Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Nepal.
Dea Rezkitha — Rezkitha is the Group Grasp for Southeast Asia for Fedi and co-founder of the Indonesian Bitcoin Group and the Indonesia Bitcoin Convention. Apart from maintaining along with her duties for Fedi this yr, Rezkitha toured the world talking about her work at occasions just like the Oslo Freedom Discussion board and Bitcoin 2024.
Lorraine Marcel — Marcel, based mostly in Kenya, is the founding father of Bitcoin Dada, a digital Bitcoin training platform and sisterhood for African ladies. She was additionally awarded the Most Impactful African Bitcoiner of 2024 award by the African Bitcoiners group.
Kenyan Lorraine Marcel (@marcelorraine) is our Most Impactful African Bitcoiner of 2024!By way of @btc_dada and @DadaDevs she empowers leaders like @waithiraah, @LindaKariu54810, @noelynesumba and plenty of others, making a ripple impact which is altering Africa ceaselessly.Extra👇 pic.twitter.com/W84gicWVs1
— African Bitcoiners ⚡ (@afribitcoiners) December 11, 2024
Isabella Santos — Santos is a co-founder of the Mexican Bitcoin group BTC Isla, based mostly in Isla Mujeres in addition to a co-founder of the Bitcoin media outlet Get Based mostly (which just lately launched a killer documentary entitled “How The Federal Reserve Secretly Enslaved The World”). Past that, she continued to tour the globe this yr because the host of Bitcoin Backstage, bringing you some juicy takes from backstage on the world’s largest Bitcoin conferences.
Noelyne Sumba — Sumba, based mostly in Kenya, oversees “orange-pilling operations” for Machankura, a Bitcoin Lightning pockets that can be utilized on function telephones. Additionally, in 2024, Saifedean Ammous’ traditional The Bitcoin Normal was printed in Swahili and Abdi due to Sumba’s assist in translating the textual content.
Hadiya Masieh — Masieh relies in London however was born to Mauritian and Ugandan dad and mom. She’s the founding father of the Groundswell Challenge, a company that works to foster peace and empathy amongst numerous communities. She gave a chat on the “Oslo Freedom Discussion board” this yr entitled “How Bitcoin Can Fund Counter-Terrorism”, wherein she highlighted how she’s taught Somali ladies the best way to use bitcoin for political fundraising to assist assist feminine candidates within the nation.
Janet Maingi — Maingi, based mostly in Kenya, is a co-founder of Gridless Compute, an organization that not solely mined bitcoin in Africa profitably this previous yr but in addition helped convey electrification to rural areas of the continent.
Mary Imasuen — Imasuen, who’s of Nigerian and Filipino descent and based mostly in Nigeria, is the International Advertising Supervisor for Fedi and a self-described “bitcoin-only gamer” who typically speaks in assist of THNDR Video games. Whereas Imasuen wasn’t touring the world discussing her work in 2024, you would hear from her as a podcast visitor or on a gaming stream.
Honorable mentions: Renata Rodrigues (Head of Advertising and Group at Fedi, initially from Brazil), Lorena Ortiz (Latin America Group Grasp at Fedi, based mostly in Mexico), Edith Mpumwire (Ugandan Group Supervisor for Bitcoin Dada and supporter of Bitcoin Kampala), Sabina Gitau (co-founder of Tando, based mostly in Kenya), Efrat Fenigson (host of the “You’re The Voice” podcast, based mostly in Israel)
And I’m going to offer a fast shout out to some dangerous ass women who crushed it this yr from Europe, the U.S. or elsewhere: Caitlin Lengthy (the US-based CEO of Custodia Financial institution began a lawsuit in opposition to the U.S. Federal Reserve), Susie Violet Ward (the UK-based Bitcoin journalist and CEO of Bitcoin Coverage U.Ok. wrote extensively in regards to the risks of over-regulating the Bitcoin business within the U.Ok. and Europe this yr), Stacy Herbert (the Director of El Salvador’s Nationwide Bitcoin Workplace (ONBTC), who tremendously furthered the Bitcoin adoption and training efforts all through El Salvador), Lyudmyla Kozlovska (the Ukrainian activist labored to assist protect privateness in Bitcoin transactions via her group, the Open Dialogue Basis), Anna Chekovich (the Russian Bitcoin advocate from Alexei Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Basis additionally joined the Human Rights Basis’s Monetary Freedom crew), Umi Miyahara (the Japanese-American Enterprise Improvement Lead at Breez helped facilitate many new partnerships for Breez), DJ Valerie B Love (the US-based inventive launched an distinctive digital convention), NiftyNei (the technical-minded developer launched the Base58 training platform), Gloria Zhao (the Bitcoin core dev did a wonderful job in distilling how Bitcoin works), Ella Hough (this scholar helped Cornell College launch its first impartial Bitcoin-focused examine program), Ayelen Osorio (the author, based mostly in Canada, launched the Human Rights Basis’s Monetary Freedom Report publication) and L0la L33tz (the impartial journalist did an unimaginable work in overlaying privateness because it pertains to Bitcoin and crypto for her publication The Rage).
I do know there are an innumerable variety of ladies within the Bitcoin house who neither I nor CoinTelegraph acknowledged.
To these ladies, I apologize for not having the ability to fit your needs into this piece, however I thanks in your work and contributions to the Bitcoin house.
To study extra kick-ass ladies within the Bitcoin house, try Entry Tribe’s “Ladies in Bitcoin” group.
This text is a Take. Opinions expressed are solely the writer’s and don’t essentially mirror these of BTC Inc or Bitcoin Journal.
