AN OPPORTUNITY TO REBUILD THE FINANCIAL SYSTEM. ARE WE GOING TO DO IT WITH ALL GUYS AGAIN?

of venture-funded companies with female founders around the world, according to Crunchbase data.

Demirors says women don’t always get the credit they deserve: She recalls being referred to as a “random marketing chick” earlier in her career and just last month had a man try to explain to her how crypto technology works at an event in Hong Kong where she delivered the opening remarks.

“I truly believe a lot of the women are the ones who are actually doing a lot of the hard operational, strategic work,” Demirors said.

The crypto world has come under unprecedented scrutiny this year, with investment in bitcoin going mainstream after a roughly 1,600 per cent surge in price. The boom has spawned the initial coin offering — a cross have entered the space across development and operations. Both trends have elevated the professionalism.”

Breitman has organized a blockchain group in San Francisco called “Attack of the 51 Percent,” a play on the notion that anyone who controls more than half of bitcoin’s computing power can take over the blockchain. A group called CryptoFriends plans a blockchain conference with all female speakers, called New Girls on the Block, in Tel Aviv in May 2018.

Still, there’s a long way to go. CoinDesk, an influential cryptocurrency media company, recently compiled a list for a vote on the most influential people in blockchain, which includes outsiders who’ve made an impact such as socialite Paris Hilton and JPMorgan chief Jamie Dimon. A fifth of the 153 identifiable candidates were women.

The crypto world’s gender imbalance echoes similar issues in Silicon Valley. The bitcoin community started as casual networks with informal roles across social circles, email threads and internet forums, making it harder for outsiders to join. There are also fewer female coders and engineers in the industry to begin with.

Benartzi, the Bancor co-founder, said a shortage of female programmers is no excuse not to have women involved in blockchain businesses. Bancor has a female vice president for engineering.

“Both women and men should be extremely excited about this,” said Benartzi, who splits her time between Tel Aviv, California and Switzerland. “Even if you can’t create 50-50 diversity in your developer teams, having women in leadership positions in your company is absolutely doable and absolutely essential.”

The price of Bancor’s token has slipped since its debut amid skepticism over the usefulness of its technology, whose application aims to facilitate trading in other digital coins.

Women like Breitman still report that their appearance and speaking styles are heavily scrutinized and critiqued in online forums. Ryan said she’s often addressed as Mr. Max or Mr. Ryan in emails, and is received with surprise when she meets people in the tech sector.

“It’s a strong filter for women who have a lot of grit,” said Breitman. Still, “any sort of weird niche group like blockchain technology will have its own idiosyncrasies and its own culling over time.”

Rumi Morales, Chicago-based former head of CME Ventures, exchange operator CME Group Inc.’s venture arm, says the nascent nature of blockchain means those behaviours aren’t entrenched. And after all, cryptoevangelists routinely tout the industry’s potential to upend world norms.

“It’s very welcoming to anyone who drinks the Kool-Aid,” said Morales.