Olayinka Odeniran founded the Black Women Blockchain Council (BWBC) in 2018 after attending the North American Bitcoin Conference in Miami that year.
There, just three of 88 speakers were women, with the rest being mostly white men. Its so-called "networking party" was held at a strip club, where several women felt uncomfortable and disappointed.
After experiencing that, "women in the space basically said that they had enough," Odeniran tells CNBC Make It. "Instead of complaining, we decided to band together and create our own community within each other."
Though it was incredibly exciting to build a support system of women in crypto, "I started to look around, and I was seeing>'There's a problem with highlighting women that are already in the space'
Odeniran first learned about bitcoin in 2016 while working as a chief compliance officer at a financial firm. While she was first skeptical of it, Odeniran became more interested in the technology after researching more and reading its white paper: "I felt that as a woman in the Black community, blockchain was something that could definitely help us," she says.
She also mentions the importance of being able to trace transactions>'I'm doing this for my daughter'
Ultimately, blockchain alone isn't enough to create a better, more inclusive financial system, Vora and Shah say.
"At the end of the day it's about tangible change," Shah says. "Crypto is predicated on a world that is decentralized, with an emphasis on accessibility. Transactions are meant to be cheaper, in theory, with investors getting access to opportunities much earlier."
But the space isn't quite there yet — high transaction fees, volatility and other hurdles still cause barrier to entry. "Crypto is not going to realize this reality by default. It needs to be a conscious consideration that is built with intentionality," she says.
"Inclusivity needs to be a larger part of the discussion, earlier on in the conversation in crypto," Kinjal Shah says.Courtesy of Manasi Vora
To Vora, crypto has the potential to "break poverty cycles," she says, "but it has to be done right. Just building these technical tools doesn't solve all the problems."
Instead, it's about getting the technology in the hands of those historically and systemically underserved in the U.S. and across the globe, she says, which is what WiB and other organizations are attempting to bridge.
"I have a 12-year-old daughter, and I'm doing this for her," Odeniran says. "I want her to have opportunities that are fair and see people, see other Black girls, that look like her, and feel comfortable. I really think that's what this technology is affording us: To create a world where everybody is included."
