The CBC reports, http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/bitcoin-s-gender-divide-could-be-a-bad-sign-experts-say
Bitcoin, and the world of cryptocurrency, is a boys' club, say some experts, and that should be cause for concern.
Google Analytics results put the divide at 96.57 per cent men to 3.43 per cent women: https://coin.dance/stats/gender.
That's a huge red flag to Duncan Stewart, research director of Deloitte Canada's technology division. "It isn't merely that the value has risen as far and as fast as it has; it's the fact that it's 97 per cent men — that is, in and of itself, a potential danger sign," he says. "There are studies out there that suggest men are predisposed towards bubbles in a way that women are not."
Stewart made his case in a recent online post about the subject: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/bitcoin-bubble-gender-split-says-probably-duncan-stewart/?trackingId=LlXWi2rCxUW0itfA92%2BhSQ%3D%3D
Stewart said he "cannot think of any security, currency or asset class in history that shows that extreme a gender divide and has been sustainable."
[...] Iliana Oris Valiente is a rarity in the cryptocurrency world. She has emerged as a female leader in this space and was recently chosen to lead consulting firm Accenture's global blockchain innovation division. Oris Valiente doesn't buy into the theory that an outsized amount of male interest in a particular asset in and of itself creates a bubble. "If we have primarily men involved in building the businesses and being the early-stage investors, they're likely to share the new tidbits and the new deals with their own established networks."
But without a major catalyst, she doesn't see the gender divide in this field narrowing anytime soon.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 04 2018, @12:55PM (1 child)
So, how much worse is this compared against... say the stock or forex markets?
(Score: 4, Insightful) by VLM on Thursday January 04 2018, @01:22PM
Whats vitally important to point out is the article and its summary intentionally confuse "Community Engagement" with being part of the community via use of the commodity.
A good analogy is ownership of 401K/IRA accounts is about 50:50, use of currency is about 50:50, etc. Everyone uses currency and brokerage accounts in some form or another so any gender divide is mere demographics foolery.
The std deviation of IQ is quite a bit larger in men than women, at the high (and low) end the ratio is almost entirely male, therefore in advocacy and education and training and community organizing, the population will mostly be male.
As an example, obviously the book "Securities Analysis" was written by Graham and Dodd not Gloria Steinem or Maxine Waters. But stock ownership directly or indirectly (mutual funds, etc) is 50:50 male to female.
Maybe another good analogy is legacy media TV channels like CNBC financial news are placeholders for the general public to see but not think about, and as such viewership reflects local demographics about 50:50. However a new media website like zerohedge which is stuffed with off duty (ahem) professional traders and hyper motivated conspiracy theorists is, as you'd suspect about 95% male.
There's nothing wrong with that, BTW.