Crypto has the potential to build a robust banking system that serves everyone around the world. But while the accessibility of digital currency has a progressive force on the fintech industry, staggering gender disparity persists across the workforce that drives the field. 

Gender equality goes beyond ticking a diversity box. While female leadership is growing, there’s a lot of untapped innovation and perspective that could be pivotal in better meeting women’s needs, bridging the gender gap, and helping to build greater economic inclusion.  

In part two of our “Influential Women in Crypto” series, we'll highlight the women developers underpinning a borderless financial system and next-generation Web3 technology. If you haven’t checked out part one of this series, we dove into the roots of five women leaders spearheading the transformation of the fintech space.  

Zoe Koulouris – VP of Product Strategy at Foundry Digital 

Zoe Koulouris is bringing the benefits of blockchain solutions to the public by helping companies navigate and implement the technology. Koulouris is co-founder of Upstate Interactive, a Web3 software development and consulting company synergizing to shape a future of decentralization. Upstate was acquired by Foundry Digital LLC in 2022.  

Outside the virtual world, Koulouris is helping to bridge a more equitable future as she supports women to pursue careers in the technology field. A 2023 Tech Woman of the Year finalist, Koulouris co-founded Women in Coding to provide free coding lessons and network opportunities for aspiring women in the software development field. 

Cathie Wood – CEO and Chief Investment Officer at ARK Invest 

Cathie Wood has made headlines for her bold and bullish investments in disruptive technologies like bitcoin, rallying the coin’s potential to scale across the globe by the end of 2030, shield wealth from inflation, and serve as a bridge to financial freedom (phew!)  

With over two decades of experience in financial and economic strategy managing millions of dollars in assets under ARK Invest, Wood was named an exclusive roundtable expert in the 2019 Fortune Investors Guide. She was additionally acknowledged in the Bloomberg 50 list and received the “Women in Finance – Outstanding Contribution” award from Markets Media. 

Nicole Muniz – CEO of Yuga Labs 

Nicole Muniz is at the forefront of tech, creativity, and shaping blockchain-based digital art. Muniz is CEO of Yuga Labs, a blockchain-powered development company that became a household name with the eruption of Bored Ape Yacht Club, an iconic nonfungible token now dominating over one-third of all NFT trading. With her background in advertising and marketing for brand giants Nike, Google, Ikea, and EA, Muniz has garnered a reputation for creative strategy and leadership.  

Muniz maintains big ambitions to scale the NFT ecosystem and create virtual worlds that pave the way for dozens of community-created projects, in turn empowering true ownership of self-made identity and independence that come with a decentralized platform.  

Cathy Hackl – CEO and Chief Metaverse Officer at Futures Intelligence Group 

Heralded the “Godmother of the Metaverse,” Cathy Hackl is a true tech futurist and globally recognized business leader with her deep expertise in metaverse-related fields. She implements innovation strategies as CEO of Futures Intelligence Group, a leading consultancy for top brands like Amazon Web Services, HTC VIVE, and Magic Leap to extend their services into the virtual world.  

Hackl also serves as VP at Avatar Dimension, Microsoft’s first volumetric capture studio offering holography and other mixed reality features for training, government, and entertainment sectors.  

Along with authoring her book Into the Metaverse -The Essential Guide to the Business Opportunities of the Web3 Era in 2023, Hackl is a sought-after keynote speaker, having been featured in 60 Minutes+, CNBC, WSJ, and more. BigThink lauded Hackl as one of the top 10 most influential women in tech in 2020 and she ranked in the prestigious Thinkers50 for top 30 management thinkers shaping the future.  

Olliv believes the benefits of cryptocurrency should be available to everyone, regardless of gender identity, nationality, or financial situation. That’s why we built our financial services platform to be simple, secure, and seamlessly accessible. Learn more.