Crypto's Unsung Heroes: The Women Shaping the Industry

Crypto's most influential women are no longer limited to investors, executives, or policy advocates. Many of the industry's most important companies, protocols, funds, and infrastructure businesses were built or co-founded by women who entered the sector when blockchain was still a niche technology.

Yi He, Co-founder and Co-CEO of Binance, is one such individual. She helped build the company from its earliest stage and now occupies one of its top leadership positions. In 2026, she became the first crypto-native executive named to Fortune's Most Powerful Women in Business list, ranking 64th.

Kathleen Breitman co-founded Tezos with Arthur Breitman in 2014, developing a blockchain that could upgrade itself through on-chain governance. The project raised approximately $232 million in its 2017 token sale, making it one of the largest early blockchain fundraises.

Jutta Steiner co-founded Parity Technologies with Gavin Wood in 2015, helping build core Ethereum infrastructure before the company's technology became closely associated with the development of Polkadot. Her lasting achievement is the technical foundation she helped establish during the early development of Ethereum and interoperable blockchain infrastructure.