Wednesday was International Women’s Day, but that seems to have slipped away Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, who tweeted a photo of himself and a group of all-male, all-white crypto co-founders. Reviews were quick.
Hosted a big “build back better” dinner in New York with founders of crypto companies. This crypto industry has many solid and compliant companies (although the headlines would suggest otherwise).
Getting the job done year after year isn’t always sexy, but it’s important.… https://t.co/DwblPKes0V pic.twitter.com/sLx2nWuYuD
—Brian Armstrong (@brian_armstrong) March 8, 2023
Several users pointed out the irony of hosting a “build back a better dinner,” as Armstrong announced, on International Women’s Day without including any female founders who are also making an impact in the space.
If you need any amazing crypto leaders to invite to future dinners to “build back better”, happy to give some recommendations! Happy Belated International Women’s Day!
— Clara 📪 Tsao.eth (@tweetclarita) March 9, 2023
The list of attendees included AAVE CEO Stani Kulechov; the compound’s CEO, Robert Leshner; Messari CEO Ryan Selkis; Paradigm co-founder Fred Ehrsam; Paxos CEO Charles Shell; and Jonathan Levin, co-founder of Chinalysis.
Yes, a group of privileged white men are going to save the world.
Incredible revelation, brother.
— August V (@AugustCohen4) March 9, 2023
The photo reminded me of last year when, when many other companies were celebrating International Women’s Day, Stefan Cohen, partner at Bain Capital Ventures tweeted a photo of the company’s seven-person, all-male crypto team. Because Bain is one of the world’s biggest investors in startups, many people have expressed concerns about the blind spots an all-male team might have when investing their $560 million crypto fund.
The tweet was roundly criticized, and Cohen eventually deleted it and apologized.
But the muted blunders reveal a more systematic problem when it comes to diversity in crypto.
A survey published last July found that all of the CEOs of the world’s 32 largest crypto companies were male, and several of them had no women on their board. In the startup world, companies founded by women received just 1.9% of venture capital funding last year, down from 2.4% in 2021.
some traditions are so ingrained in the culture that it would take biblical leveling to mislead them.
in crypto, it’s men posting photos of inspirational people in crypto exclusively featuring white men on international women’s day
may this traditional saint survive us all
— cokie (@cokiehasiotis) March 8, 2023
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