What It's Like to Be a Woman In China's Get-Rich-Quick Crypto Culture

Sa Wang has co-founded several successful companies in the tech and blockchain space, first at popular Chinese self-service kiosk startup Dora, and now at top 50 crypto project and blockchain protocol IOST. We hear a lot about women in the cryptocurrency and blockchain space.

Confirming what many of us already suspected, CoinDesk's Q2 2018 State of the Blockchain Report found that only 4 percent of crypto investors are women.

In order to understand what it's like to be a Chinese woman in crypto, first you must understand the Chinese crypto space itself.

Despite China's ban on crypto trading, there is a ravenous appetite for crypto wealth - traders have simply started placing their bets in Japan, Hong Kong, and South Korea.

In contrast to the West, where conversations are slowly evolving towards a more nuanced discussion of the merits of blockchain technology and institutional adoption, Chinese crypto enthusiasts largely maintain a single-minded speculative focus: Will this coin be listed on a Korean exchange soon? What is its market cap? Should I buy? Should I sell?

You certainly shouldn't expect to be taken seriously - especially if your interests lie in blockchain technology, rather than crypto speculation.

In addition to discussing the latest blockchain and crypto topics, every two weeks, the women of Blockchain Ladies invite a powerful or famous male in the crypto space for an "Ask me anything" session.

If my experience as a Chinese woman in crypto has taught me anything, it's that we need to be twice as strong and grounded if we want to compete with our male counterparts.

No matter the country, being a woman in the crypto space requires some serious soul-searching.

Many of the crypto millionaires around you actually know very little beyond the ins and outs of crypto trading, so aspire to outshine them in everything else.