When Serra Wei looks around the room at crypto industry events, she notices something: Almost all of her peers are men.
The financial sector has long been considered male-dominated, and its crypto subsector is no different.
Just five of 121 crypto companies included in a December 2021 survey by market researcher Crypto Head were founded by women. Additionally, less than 10% of partners at all crypto funds were women, according to Forkast data from August 2022.
Wei, CEO of digital asset custodian Aegis Custody, is offering a solution to address the gender gap. Aegis last week launched an initiative offering free custody services for six months to any crypto sector company that’s founded or led by a woman.
With this initiative, Wei wants to foster and support connections for women in the industry, and offer them a leg up by lightening the financial load of working in crypto. It costs companies to keep their crypto with one of the nation’s six digital asset custodians, but it’s something they’re required to do.
Aegis’ six-month offer is worth $28,000, Wei said. The reduced burden will free up resources to allow female founders to focus on growing their companies and innovating their offerings.
Wei’s initiation into the crypto space was as an investor. Aegis focuses on business clients including asset management firms, IRAs, retirement accounts, payment providers and crypto exchanges.
“Women in the crypto industry often face an uphill battle to receive the same level of support and respect as their male counterparts," she told CoinDesk. "These obstacles can be incredibly discouraging and demotivating, making it even harder for women to succeed in the industry."
Her industry counterparts have been subject to regulatory scrutiny recently Coinbase, for example, received a Wells notice and exchange Kraken was put on the hook for millions of dollars in penalties. While other crypto firms have explored focusing on other countries to avoid U.S. regulatory scrutiny, Wei told Banking Dive that she’s in favor of regulation.
“I think this might be a contrary view, but as a woman, I view regulations in the U.S. to be favorable. It’s important to have safety, security, and protection,” she said. “Previously, people could get away with [wrongdoing] because they had charisma. Now, with all the bankruptcies, regulators [are paying attention],”
Clear regulations, she said, would bring women into the industry.
“Women demand for a regulated platform where there’s a recourse they can go after if something bad happens,” she said.
