A week prior, CoinTelegraph released a “women who excelled in crypto” article that featured just one woman from outside the Americas or Europe (Maya Parbhoe).
Believing that the developments surrounding Bitcoin in Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia—regions where Bitcoin is primarily utilized as a currency and a last-resort financial tool—are significantly more thrilling than the happenings in the U.S. and Europe, I’m eager to share stories of remarkable women in the Bitcoin sector from these areas who made a mark in 2024.
Farida Bemba Nabourema — Nabourema has long been an advocate and defender of human rights, hailing from Togo. She is also the key organizer for the African Bitcoin Conference, which, over the past three years, has offered Africans a fantastic platform to connect with Bitcoin enthusiasts worldwide.
Reyna Chicas — A Salvadoran, Chicas was elevated to Director of Education for Mi Primer Bitcoin this year, and she also serves on the board of the organization. Her journey in the Bitcoin realm began just two years ago when she attended the Adopting Bitcoin conference in El Salvador.
Roya Mahboob — Mahboob is among Afghanistan’s pioneering female tech CEOs. She also established the Digital Citizen Fund, a non-profit dedicated to enhancing the technological proficiency of Afghan women. This year, she has continued her mission to set up IT centers for girls in high schools throughout Afghanistan and aims to expand her educational model to schools in Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, and Nepal.
Dea Rezkitha — Rezkitha serves as the Community Master for Southeast Asia at Fedi and is a co-founder of the Indonesian Bitcoin Community as well as the Indonesia Bitcoin Conference. Alongside her responsibilities at Fedi this year, Rezkitha traveled globally, presenting her work at events such as the Oslo Freedom Forum and Bitcoin 2024.
Lorraine Marcel — Residing in Kenya, Marcel is the founder of Bitcoin Dada, a digital Bitcoin education platform and community for African women. She was recently honored as the Most Impactful African Bitcoiner of 2024 by the African Bitcoiners group.
Kenyan Lorraine Marcel (@marcelorraine) is our Most Impactful African Bitcoiner of 2024!
Through @btc_dada and @DadaDevs, she empowers leaders such as @waithiraah, @LindaKariu54810, @noelynesumba, and countless others, creating a ripple that is transforming Africa forever.
More👇 pic.twitter.com/W84gicWVs1— African Bitcoiners ⚡ (@afribitcoiners) December 11, 2024
Isabella Santos — Santos co-founded the Mexican Bitcoin community BTC Isla, located in Isla Mujeres, and is also a co-founder of the Bitcoin media source Get Based (recently unveiling an impactful documentary titled “How The Federal Reserve Secretly Enslaved The World”). Additionally, she continued her global tours this year as the host of Bitcoin Backstage, delivering exclusive insights from behind the scenes at major Bitcoin conferences.
Noelyne Sumba — Operating out of Kenya, Sumba leads the “orange-pilling initiatives” for Machankura, a Bitcoin Lightning wallet compatible with feature phones. In 2024, Sumba also contributed to the Swahili and Abdi translations of Saifedean Ammous’ classic The Bitcoin Standard.
Hadiya Masieh — Masieh resides in London but has roots in Mauritius and Uganda. She is the founder of the Groundswell Project, an organization focused on promoting peace and understanding among diverse groups. This year, she delivered a presentation at the “Oslo Freedom Forum” titled “How Bitcoin Can Fund Counter-Terrorism”, where she discussed her work instructing Somali women on leveraging Bitcoin for political fundraising to support female candidates in the nation.
Janet Maingi — Located in Kenya, Maingi is a co-founder of Gridless Compute, a business that successfully mined Bitcoin profitably in Africa over the past year while also contributing to electrification efforts in rural African territories.
Mary Imasuen — Of Nigerian and Filipino heritage based in Nigeria, Imasuen is the Global Marketing Manager for Fedi and identifies as a “bitcoin-only gamer,” frequently advocating for THNDR Games. While she may not have traveled extensively in 2024 to promote her work, her insights were still featured as a podcast guest or on gaming live streams.
Noteworthy mentions: Renata Rodrigues (Head of Marketing and Community at Fedi, originally from Brazil), Lorena Ortiz (Latin America Community Master at Fedi, situated in Mexico), and Edith Mpumwire (Ugandan Community Manager for Bitcoin Dada and advocate forBitcoin Kampala), Sabina Gitau (co-founder of Tando, located in Kenya), Efrat Fenigson (host of the “You’re The Voice” podcast, based in Israel)
And I’d like to take a moment to highlight some formidable women who excelled this year from Europe, the U.S., or other regions: Caitlin Long, the US-based CEO of Custodia Bank initiated a lawsuit against the Federal Reserve in 2024; Susie Violet Ward, the UK-based Bitcoin journalist and head of Bitcoin Policy UK extensively discussed the risks of excessive regulation on the Bitcoin sector in the UK and Europe this year; Umi Miyahara, the Japanese-American Business Development Lead at Breez, who facilitated numerous new collaborations for Breez in 2024; DJ Valerie B Love, the US-based creative who organized an exceptional virtual conference this year; NiftyNei, who introduced the Base58 education platform this year; Gloria Zhao, a Bitcoin core developer who excels at explaining how Bitcoin functions; Ella Hough, who assisted Cornell University in launching its first independent Bitcoin-focused study program; Ayelen Osorio, who initiated the Human Right’s Foundation’s Financial Freedom Report newsletter); and L0la L33tz (the independent journalist produced remarkable coverage on privacy issues related to Bitcoin and crypto for her outlet The Rage).
I recognize there are countless women in the Bitcoin field who neither I nor CoinTelegraph have recognized.
To those women, I regret not being able to include you in this piece, but I appreciate your efforts and contributions to the Bitcoin community.
This piece is a Take. The opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of BTC Inc or Bitcoin Magazine.