Every week in the past, CoinTelegraph printed a “women who kicked ass in crypto” piece by which just one non-American or non-European girl (Maya Parbhoe) was talked about.
As a result of I really feel that what’s occurring with Bitcoin in Africa, Latin America, The Center East and Southeast Asia — areas the place bitcoin is extra usually used as a forex and a cash of final resort — is much extra thrilling than what’s occurring in america and Europe, I’m right here let you know about some girls within the Bitcoin area 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 Conference, which, for the final three years, has supplied 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 Education for Mi Primer Bitcoin this year, 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 conference 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 aimed toward enhancing technological literacy of Afghan girls. This 12 months, she’s continued in her efforts to create IT facilities for women in excessive colleges throughout Afghanistan and likewise 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 Conference. Other than maintaining together with her duties for Fedi this 12 months, Rezkitha toured the world talking about her work at occasions just like the Oslo Freedom Forum 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 girls. 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 means of @btc_dada and @DadaDevs she empowers leaders like @waithiraah, @LindaKariu54810, @noelynesumba and plenty of others, making a ripple impact which is altering Africa without end.
Extra👇 pic.twitter.com/W84gicWVs1— African Bitcoiners ⚡ (@afribitcoiners) December 11, 2024
Isabella Santos — Santos is a co-founder of the Mexican Bitcoin neighborhood BTC Isla, based mostly in Isla Mujeres in addition to a co-founder of the Bitcoin media outlet Get Based (which lately launched a killer documentary entitled “How The Federal Reserve Secretly Enslaved The World”). Past that, she continued to tour the globe this 12 months because the host of Bitcoin Backstage, bringing you some juicy takes from backstage on the world’s greatest Bitcoin conferences.
Noelyne Sumba — Sumba, based mostly in Kenya, oversees “orange-pilling operations” for Machankura, a Bitcoin Lightning pockets that can be utilized on characteristic telephones. Additionally, in 2024, Saifedean Ammous’ basic The Bitcoin Customary was printed in Swahili and Abdi because of 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 Project, a company that works to foster peace and empathy amongst numerous communities. She gave a chat on the “Oslo Freedom Discussion board” this 12 months entitled “How Bitcoin Can Fund Counter-Terrorism”, by which she highlighted how she’s taught Somali girls the way to use bitcoin for political fundraising to assist help 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 12 months but additionally helped bring electrification to rural regions of the continent.
Mary Imasuen — Imasuen, who’s of Nigerian and Filipino descent and based mostly in Nigeria, is the World Advertising and marketing Supervisor for Fedi and a self-described “bitcoin-only gamer” who usually speaks in help of THNDR 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 marketing 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 provide a fast shout out to some unhealthy ass girls who crushed it this 12 months from Europe, the U.S. or elsewhere: Caitlin Long (the US-based CEO of Custodia Financial institution began a lawsuit against 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 trade within the U.Ok. and Europe this 12 months), Stacy Herbert (the Director of El Salvador’s Nationwide Bitcoin Workplace (ONBTC), who greatly furthered the Bitcoin adoption and education efforts all through El Salvador), Lyudmyla Kozlovska (the Ukrainian activist labored to assist protect privacy in Bitcoin transactions by her group, the Open Dialogue Foundation), Anna Chekovich (the Russian Bitcoin advocate from Alexei Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Basis additionally joined the Human Rights Basis’s Monetary Freedom group), Umi Miyahara (the Japanese-American Enterprise Growth Lead at Breez helped facilitate many new partnerships for Breez), DJ Valerie B Love (the US-based artistic launched an exceptional virtual conference), NiftyNei (the technical-minded developer launched the Base58 education platform), Gloria Zhao (the Bitcoin core dev did a superb job in distilling how Bitcoin works), Ella Hough (this scholar helped Cornell College launch its first independent Bitcoin-focused study program), Ayelen Osorio (the author, based mostly in Canada, launched the Human Rights Foundation’s Financial Freedom Report newsletter) and L0la L33tz (the unbiased 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 girls within the Bitcoin area who neither I nor CoinTelegraph acknowledged.
To these girls, I apologize for not having the ability to suit you into this piece, however I thanks in your work and contributions to the Bitcoin area.
To study extra kick-ass girls within the Bitcoin area, try Entry Tribe’s “Women in Bitcoin” group.
This text is a Take. Opinions expressed are totally the writer’s and don’t essentially mirror these of BTC Inc or Bitcoin Journal.