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Global Shakers Identifies Three Women Pioneering Innovation Within Blockchain Technology

21.05.2018 | by Kezia Parkins
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With cryptocurrencies and blockchain technologies becoming more prevalent than ever, women are finding just as much success in the industry as the “Blockchain Bros.” Global Shakers is taking a look at three women who are having a significant impact on the market and aim to make sure the blockchain arena does not become another market dominated by men.

Elizabeth Stark is the co-founder and CEO of Lightning Labs — a company that strives to take blockchain technology to the next level. Lightning Labs is a software layer on top of Bitcoin that will make sending and receiving Bitcoin faster and more efficient. It does this by relieving the congestion that the Bitcoin blockchain experiences due to high demand.

Stark has made an astute comparison for the problem. Imagine if you wanted to send an email, but in order to do that, you had to download and verify every email that had ever been sent. This is the problem users face when trying to send or receive bitcoin. This is something users have to deal with because Bitcoin operates on a decentralised network, so every transaction has to be verified and is part of a global consensus. Every node must agree. Technology like Stark’s is one innovative way developers are attempting to cure the Bitcoin blockchain’s issue of congestion.

Elizabeth Stark
Source: Yahoo Finance

Jalak Jobanputra is another strong advocate of digital currencies and believes that these cryptocurrencies and the blockchain technology they are built on hold the key to improving the state of financial services. Jobanputra is an investor with previous experience as the senior vice president of the New York Investment Fund, in addition to her positions at Intel and the Lehman Brothers. Now, Jobanputra has founded her own fund, Future/Perfect Ventures, which is entirely based on investing in early-stage blockchain projects. She believes that the internet alone doesn’t possess the ability to deal with the huge increase in the amount of data that are being produced. In 2013, IBM released a statistic showing that 90% of the world’s data had been created in the previous two years; our use of smartphones and technology has only increased since then. Jobanputra believes blockchain holds the answers to keeping our data secure and has the ability create a hyper-connected global world.

Jalak Jobanputra Source: LeanIn

Tavonia Evans is the founder and CEO of $GUAP. It is the first crypto token built to support black-owned businesses, philanthropic efforts and institutions. Evans has identified two problems regarding black consumers’ position in today’s economy. The first is that businesses don’t recognise the spending power of the black community, and the second is that the money that is eventually reinvested into black communities doesn’t stay there long enough. $GUAP aims to remedy this issue. It is a spendable token built on the Ethereum blockchain technology. It is a cryptocurrency that aims to give back — customers will not only save money but also be rewarded with funds to further build and thrive within their communities. Evans deduces that circulating the money within black communities is key to ensuring that their businesses survive. The self-professed data nerd and evangelist has a wealth of experience in the digital world, previously plying her trade in various developer roles as well as working as a software engineer.

Tavonia Evans
Source: Nyra Lang

Related Shakers

Jalak Jobanputra

Future\Perfect…

Elizabeth Stark

Lightning Labs

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Related Shakers

Jalak Jobanputra

Future\Perfect…

Elizabeth Stark

Lightning Labs

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“The early days are what decide the culture of an industry and who gets involved in making the decisions.” Jalak Jobanputra

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