4 Female Women Leading the Charge for Bitcoin Adoption in 2023

For the uninitiated, it may be surprising to learn that many of the most influential leaders in the bitcoin space are women. From Senator Cynthia Lummis and entrepreneur Roya Mahboon, an Afghan technology teacher who used bitcoin to disrupt a misogynistic banking system, women around the world are supporting bitcoin by advocating for bitcoin in unique ways. For another example, Natalie Smolenski, another Forbes contributor, recently participated in the debate on central bank digital currencies at the International Monetary Fund in January.

Bitcoin history is full of examples of women driving bitcoin’s growing ecosystem. BitcoinBTCbitcoin is a permissionless protocol after all. The following women are just a few of the many female bitcoin pioneers worth watching in 2023.

Bitcoin Media Personality: Natalie Brunell

Natalie Brunell is the podcast host behind both Hard Money and Coin Stories. Like the aforementioned Smolenski, Brunell is also a first-generation immigrant from communist Poland. After earning his master’s degree in journalism, Brunell cut his teeth with a plethora of media roles at outlets such as NBC, Reuters, CNN and ABC. Her podcasting skills eventually allowed her to leave her news job and pursue an independent media career focused on bitcoin content.

Brunell began to feel the system was rigged in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis after witnessing her parents lose their home in the collapse. When asked why she switched to focusing primarily on creating bitcoin content, Brunell told me in an interview that bitcoin has the potential to “level the playing field economically, restore economic dignity and hope to the working class, and start a renaissance of the American the dream.”

Bitcoin Mentor: Krista Edmunds

Krista Edmunds spent nearly two decades in the traditional finance space at firms such as Bloomberg and Barclays. She left the industry to found Access Tribe, an educational organization formed to inspire, educate and connect women in the bitcoin space.

“Discovering Bitcoin is like discovering gold and the internet at the same time,” Edmunds said in an interview with me.

Edmunds said that “women are generally more risk-aware,” hinting at why she believes bitcoin adoption is apparently lagging among women. On the other hand, she now considers time spent studying the traditional field of finance a diminishing returns exercise, dedicating her time to bitcoin as a means for women to achieve financial security for themselves and their children.

As such, Edmunds believes bitcoin is the best way for women to build and preserve wealth for the sake of their children, creating a more secure future for the next generation.

Edmunds also dabbles in the political realm, having recently co-founded Bitcoin Policy UK, a collaborative, non-partisan group. The group intends to investigate how bitcoin can support the UK’s economic and environmental policy objectives.

The Bitcoin Businesswoman: Lisa Hough

In a recent interview with podcaster Robert Breedlove, Lisa Hough discussed the anxiety she felt in her previous career, saying she always feared she would end up homeless and living under a bridge. Despite her career successes, her fear persisted because she lacked faith in traditional savings tools. Hough credits bitcoin with helping her alleviate those concerns and says her fears have now been replaced with hope, eventually leading her to pursue bitcoin full-time.

Hough is now the head of business development at LevelField Financial Inc., formerly the director of client solutions at Unchained Capital, and offers a prime example of a leader in the bitcoin industry. Hough described her passion as “connecting all people to bitcoin, because bitcoin is the only form of property that can be held by every human being on earth, regardless of property rights.”

She has passed this passion for the bitcoin economy on to her daughter, Ella, who published an article with her Bitcoin Magazine and is an active part of the Cornell Blockchain club.

Hough’s own understanding of cross-market dynamics developed over a decade in natural gas trading and risk management at energy trading organizations including PG&E National Energy Group, Southern Company, Phibro Energy, Vastar Resources and Enron Capital and Trade. She said in our interview that “being a woman in a male-dominated industry has huge advantages,” reflecting on the gender divide in the historically male-dominated roles.

Overall, Hough said she felt her purpose was always to build good teams and see them win, a trait she has brought to the bitcoin industry.

“I’m fascinated by the efficiency Bitcoin offers the energy space,” Hough said of her motivations going forward, “Energy is at the root of human success and critical to national security.” She remains active in the energy space, exploring opportunities to mitigate methane flaring and venting through bitcoin mining.

Ultimately, she says, her purpose now is to serve others, and if she’s ever tried to explain Bitcoin to you, it’s her way of saying “I love you.”

Bitcoin Venture Capitalist: Andi Pitt

Andi Pitt is a founding partner at Ego Death Capital, a bitcoin ecosystem venture fund. Prior to Ego Death, Pitt spent nearly eight years at Goldman Sachs in New York, most recently as part of the principal financing and investment team in the Securities Division.

At Goldman, she was able to learn the current system from the inside. Pitt says she joined the bitcoin industry because she is passionate about creating a “fairer and more sustainable global financial and economic system,” and she sees bitcoin as a tool to achieve those goals.

Ego Death Capital co-founder Jeff Booth helped Pitt understand bitcoin, she told me during an interview, helping her see that bitcoin could be “the foundation of a new global financial and economic system.”

When she’s not busy investing in the bitcoin ecosystem, Pitt spends her time pursuing hobbies such as philosophy and design. She added that she loves trees, writing poetry, photography and travelling.

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