Part of Decential Media’s celebration and recognition of Women’s History month

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Over the past three years, I have attended several blockchain conferences and have been repeatedly disappointed by how few women founders or C-level executives appeared on panels. I am not the only one frustrated by manels (male-only panels), or offended at token web3 women panels, which always seemed scheduled as an afterthought. 

Gracy Chen, the managing director of Bitget, a crypto trading platform, wants to bring greater equality to the crypto space. 

With a degree in Applied Mathematics and a previous career as a TV business anchor, founder and investor, Chen has been a vocal advocate for women in fintech. She has been involved with the Global Shapers Community at the World Economic Forum since 2020. Global Shapers “initiates projects that make a positive social impact to help solve problems in economy, environment, education, gender equality, culture and technology,” according to its mandate. 

"We're not fighting men,” Chen said. “We are fighting inequality, and the fact that there are people who think that women are less capable.”

I was in the audience at TOKEN2049 in Singapore last year when Chen was asked which person, living or dead, would she want to have a conversation with? Her answer was Marie Curie, “largely because she survived in a very male dominated industry, science.”

While Chen is honored to be seen as one of the leading female voices in the space, she wonders "How many women are leaning in?” She continued, “These are things I really want to talk about. Women should lean in more. We should be very vocal about our presence.”

Gracy Chen on stage at TOKEN2049, Singapore 2023 

Since joining Bitget in 2022, Chen has put initiatives in place to address obvious gender ratio discrepancy and bias across the board within the male-dominated industries of finance and technology. 

In January this year, Bitget released its findings of a two-year study into the gender gap in blockchain startup funding. It revealed that women-led startups had received just 6 percent of overall funding over the study period.

Also in January, Bitget launched Blockchain4Her at the Web3 Hub event during the World Economic Forum in Davos. It will be an ongoing project for the company, which is looking to commit $10 million to educate and empower women founders through incubation, hackathons and pitching competitions. 

Of all the company’s achievements, Chen is particularly proud that 40 percent of the Bitget management team are women, and hopes that other crypto or blockchain companies consider gender within their recruitment processes. 

As for the year ahead, Bitget is focusing on growth through developing high potential emerging countries within South East Asia, Europe and Latin America. The company is working closely with regulatory authorities to develop and monitor the compliance requirements and stay informed about new developments.

Read more: Sandy Carter, An Unstoppable Woman in Web3 

“Right now we see lots of regulatory clarity, especially Hong Kong, which I think is very important for the industry,” Chen said.

The company is also exploring more web3 product development and will be focused on listing more types of cryptocurrencies to give users access to a greater variety of assets. 

Chen expects that the stronger market conditions and confidence will see blockchain companies open new positions as well. She noted that most of Bitget’s 1,500 employees work remotely, and is encouraging more women to bring their existing skill sets and talents over to this burgeoning sector. She believes that the ‘24/7 of the crypto market’ coupled with a strong remote work culture gives women, especially, the opportunity to work around their other commitments, like caring for children or elderly parents. 

“Think about how much interest you have in web3 and how much potential you see in cryptocurrency making the traditional finance world more equitable and more decentralized,” she said. “Do you believe in this and do you want to be part of it? Do you see that future coming?"