Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum are being lauded as great equalisers: many believe they can help level the playing field in what's historically been a walled-off finance sector.
Research shows the crypto gender gap is closing: more women are involved in crypto investing than ever before, and the balance is shifting as curiosity abounds.
In this article:
- Scepticism persists
- Women to the fore
- Aussie ladies
So just what is drawing women to the crypto space, and what does the data say about changing attitudes to digital currency?
Scepticism persists
Though crypto is increasingly being used by some women to achieve financial goals, there is still some scepticism.
When Coinbase, one of the largest crypto exchanges in the US by volume, surveyed more than 6,000 women from the US and UK back in January 2019, researchers found that 32% of millennial women felt they did not have control over their financial future.
Another survey carried out this year by New York-based cryptocurrency exchange Gemini across 2,000 people in the UK, however, showed 45.4% of crypto investors in the UK have increased their savings and investments despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The new data shows a significant shift in the gender dynamics of UK crypto investors, with more women investing in digital assets in 2020.
Among the 13.5% of respondents who are or have been crypto investors, 41.6% are female. Among those planning to invest in cryptocurrencies, 40% are women.
With previous research suggesting only 21 to 22% of cryptocurrency investors were female, these new figures clearly demonstrate that more women are actively engaging with digital assets than ever before.
When women buy digital assets, they also invest at a higher level than men. According to the Gemini study, among those investing between £1,000 and £5,000, more than half (53.4%) were women.
The survey noted that though scepticism persists, women's crypto curiosity is increasingly translating into practical intent and investment.
In 2020, crypto news hub Cointelegraph reported female user metrics had grown between 22 and 160% across the majority of the top crypto exchanges. Interestingly, digital asset exchanges CEX.io and EXMO also saw an increase in the number of female users in the same way that Bithumb Global did.
Women to the fore
Some 45% of the women polled in a survey by crypto financial services company BlockFi said they knew how to buy crypto, but 80% still found it confusing, while 72% said it's too risky to invest.
The BlockFi survey asked female Americans about their current motivations, behaviours and dispositions around crypto investing and financial wellness.
A more recent global survey by the same crypto firm showed that while 33% of the women surveyed were keen to buy crypto assets in 2022, around 60% of them intend to do so within the next few months. In a similar global survey in September 2021, BlockFi reported only around 29% of the women had expressed interest in making crypto purchases in 2022.
India-based crypto exchange BuyUcoin also noted a spike of almost 130% year-on-year in the number of female investors.
Incidentally, on March 4, 2020, the Supreme Court of India overturned an earlier ban on cryptocurrency payments by India's apex bank.
According to BuyUcoin, which has around 400,000 users in India, 1,040% more women have invested since the ban was lifted. The number of male investors increased by 1,064.5% at the same time.
Apart from Bitcoin, data on the user patterns of Indian crypto exchanges revealed that Ethereum, Ripple, Tether and Cardano were the top choices with female investors.
It is thought that India is the second-largest market for cryptocurrency adoption, with young investors constituting the largest segment, and women are making up a small, but significant, part of this growing market.
The scene also appears to be changing in Middle Eastern countries, where women have less financial autonomy than their male counterparts. A 2020 McKinsey report on women at work in the Middle East found high inequalities persist, particularly in legal protection and financial inclusion, with a significant number of women remaining unbanked.
However, a pivot appears to be taking place in the Middle East in the digital currency sphere.
Ola Doudin has established herself as a key player in the nascent crypto scene in the Middle East and North Africa. Doudin is co-founder and chief executive of BitOasis, a bitcoin wallet and instant exchange. Established in 2015, BitOasis is lauded as the largest and most trusted crypto exchange in the UAE.
Yet another personality is Nagham Hassan, a crypto content creator, who is leading the charge in cryptocurrencies. She's focused on building community through real and virtual conversations that feature more female faces in the crowd.
In an attempt to find Arabic YouTube videos explaining the new class of digital assets to her father, Hassam found none up to scratch. So, she started her own YouTube channel.
With her educational YouTube videos in Arabic on all things crypto, Nagham Hassan is building new bridges and reaching out to a wider section of the community.
A Gemini research report also details the fulcrum of change for digital currencies in the Middle East.
Though there may be more men actively investing in crypto, women have expressed just as much interest. Some 53% of women as compared to 47% of men have been termed 'crypto-curious,' meaning they want to learn more about the market.
In other words, there is an interest and appetite growing among women in the cryptocurrency space.
Another study by Gemini has also cottoned on to this change. The exchange conducted a poll across various countries to determine the worldwide rates of cryptocurrency ownership and deliver other insights.
Gemini’s data indicated that 28% of people in Israel and 35% of people in the United Arab Emirates own cryptocurrency. Israel and the UAE are the only Middle Eastern countries included in the study.
Interestingly, 51% of the respondents in Israel who reported owning cryptocurrency were women.
Aussie ladies
Last week, a report by cryptocurrency exchange Gemini said Australia's crypto gender gap could close by 2022.
Nearly 30,000 adults across 20 countries responded to the Global State of Crypto Report, with the study showing some incredible numbers — half of Australians planning to start investing in crypto in 2022 are women.
Another study by BTC Market highlighted how the gender gap in cryptocurrencies appears to be steadily closing.
BTC Markets is a liquid cryptocurrency exchange in Australia, and more than 325,000 Australians have traded some US$21 billion on its platform.
While women do not trade as frequently as men, their average initial deposits on the BTC Markets platform were greater.
In a study titled: 'The state of play in the Australian cryptocurrency market', the agency noted female user growth increased by 172% between 2020 and 2021, compared to 79.5% for men.
According to the exchange, the increase in female investors is important, as studies of behavioural finance reveal women are often more risk-averse when investing compared to men.
"More women trading cryptocurrency dispels stereotypes around cryptocurrency investors being risk lovers. It also shows a calculated appetite for the volatility that is still a feature of this asset class," says the report.
BTC's cohort of female investors traded twice daily on average during FY21, compared to five times for male investors. The exchange says this suggests a structured trading strategy with a smaller range of focused positions.
Compared to male investors, BTC's data indicates female investors tend to deposit larger amounts at the outset. In FY21, women, on average, deposited US$2,381, compared to US$2,060 for men. The study showed that in the same time period, women's crypto portfolios averaged US$2,650, compared to US$3,049 for men.
Women in crypto increasingly represent a growing portion of the investment community. As a result, this digital currency is gaining a reputation as an asset class that can sit alongside traditional investments.
As more institutional money moves in, and accessible products such as exchange-traded funds are launched, widespread acceptance of cryptocurrency is fast approaching. All things considered, there appears to be strong support for sustainable growth in cryptocurrency markets on the horizon.
- Amrita Ghaswalla