Top 20 Women Shaping Crypto and Blockchain in 2026

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.

This list focuses specifically on founders and co-founders. The ranking considers the scale of the company or protocol, capital raised or managed, technological importance, ecosystem impact and the strength of publicly documented achievements. It also separates founders from executives who joined established companies later.

The 2026 picture is particularly important because the industry is moving beyond the first crypto cycle. Exchanges are becoming global financial platforms, blockchain infrastructure is entering banks and enterprises, crypto wallets are becoming invisible fintech infrastructure, and venture capital is increasingly flowing toward the intersection of crypto, AI and financial services.

1. Yi He — Binance

Yi He, Co-founder and Co-CEO, Binance entered crypto in 2014 after working in marketing and helped recruit Changpeng Zhao into the industry. Three years later, the pair co-founded Binance. She was central to the company’s early marketing, user growth and global expansion.

Her biggest achievement was helping build Binance into the world’s largest crypto exchange by trading volume. She later became involved in the company’s broader investment and ecosystem activities through Binance Labs, now YZi Labs.

Her status changed in December 2025, when Binance formally appointed her Co-CEO alongside Richard Teng. In May 2026, she became the first crypto-native executive named to Fortune’s Most Powerful Women in Business list, ranking 64th. The recognition placed a crypto founder alongside leaders of major traditional corporations.

Yi He is not simply a senior executive at Binance. She helped build the company from its earliest stage and now occupies one of its top leadership positions.

2. Kathleen Breitman — Tezos

Kathleen Breitman co-founded Tezos with Arthur Breitman in 2014. She helped develop the vision of 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. Tezos’ central innovation was its self-amending governance model, designed to allow protocol upgrades without the disruptive hard forks that had affected other networks.

Breitman’s contribution was particularly significant because she was involved in building a major Layer-1 blockchain during the industry’s earliest development phase, when female founders of large protocols were extremely rare.

In 2026, Tezos continues to develop its protocol and ecosystem, with the network’s long-running focus shifting from infrastructure alone toward real-world products and adoption. The 2026 TezDev ecosystem discussions have continued to focus on the network’s next stage beyond basic blockchain infrastructure.

3. Jutta Steiner — Parity Technologies

Jutta Steiner co-founded Parity Technologies with Gavin Wood in 2015, one of Ethereum’s original co-founders. Before that, she served as the Ethereum Foundation’s first Chief of Security.

Parity became one of the most important blockchain engineering companies in the world. Its work helped build core Ethereum infrastructure before the company’s technology became closely associated with the development of Polkadot.

Steiner’s importance comes from her work during the period when blockchain companies were still building the underlying infrastructure that later ecosystems would depend on.

She later left the CEO position, so her current position should not be confused with her historical founder contribution. Her lasting achievement is the technical foundation she helped establish during the early development of Ethereum and interoperable blockchain infrastructure.

She helped build foundational blockchain technology before the sector became a mainstream industry.

4. Elizabeth Stark — Lightning Labs

Elizabeth Stark co-founded Lightning Labs in 2016 to develop infrastructure that could make Bitcoin faster and cheaper for everyday transactions.

The company’s work on the Lightning Network created a major scaling layer for Bitcoin. Lightning Labs has developed products and infrastructure including LND, Loop, Pool and Taproot Assets.

The company has raised approximately $82.5 million, including a $70 million Series B. Its long-term objective has been to make Bitcoin usable as a global payment and settlement network rather than only as a store of value.

Stark remains one of the most visible founders in Bitcoin infrastructure. Lightning Labs continues to build tools around Bitcoin payments and assets, while the broader Lightning ecosystem remains central to the debate over Bitcoin scalability.

She built one of the most important companies attempting to expand Bitcoin’s practical utility.

5. Caitlin Long — Custodia Bank

Caitlin Long, Founder and CEO started Custodia Bank in 2020, originally known as Avanti Bank & Trust, after spending years in traditional finance.

Her objective was to create a regulated bank specifically designed for digital assets. She also played a role in Wyoming’s development of the Special Purpose Depository Institution framework.

Custodia became one of the most prominent crypto banking companies in the United States. Its dispute with the Federal Reserve over access to the central bank’s master account placed Long at the centre of the debate over whether crypto-native financial institutions should receive the same banking access as traditional institutions.

A major 2026 development came in July, when Long was recognised by American Banker as one of its Most Innovative People in Finance for 2026. Her recent public work has continued to focus on the distinction between stablecoins and tokenized deposits, a major issue as the U.S. financial system debates digital-dollar infrastructure.

6. Katie Haun — Haun Ventures

Former federal prosecutor Katie Haun founded Haun Ventures in 2022 after serving as Coinbase’s first independent board director. Earlier in her career, she led several high-profile investigations involving digital assets before moving into venture capital. 

She founded Haun Ventures with $1.5 billion in initial capital.

The firm’s biggest 2026 achievement came in May, when it announced $1 billion in new funds. The new capital will target crypto, financial infrastructure and selected opportunities involving AI agents. Haun has specifically said the firm is not becoming a conventional AI fund and will remain focused on areas connected to crypto and financial services.

The new raise brings the firm’s capital raised across its funds to approximately $2.5 billion.

She transformed experience in federal crypto investigations into one of the world’s largest crypto-focused venture firms.

7. Cathie Wood — ARK Invest

Cathie Wood founded ARK Invest in 2014, as a technology-focused investment firm. She became one of the earliest major traditional asset managers to make Bitcoin and blockchain central to her investment thesis.

ARK was an early investor in Bitcoin exposure products and later became closely associated with the push for spot Bitcoin ETFs. The firm has also invested in major crypto-related companies, including Coinbase and Circle.

In 2026, ARK continued actively positioning itself around crypto infrastructure. The firm bought additional exposure to companies such as Coinbase, Robinhood and Circle at different points during market volatility. It also continued to hold major positions in disruptive technology sectors connected to digital assets.

Wood helped move Bitcoin from a niche asset into the portfolio discussions of mainstream investors.

8. Asta Li — Privy

Asta Li co-founded Privy with Henri Stern in 2021 to solve one of Web3’s biggest problems: crypto wallets were too difficult for mainstream users.

Privy developed infrastructure that allowed companies to embed wallets directly into applications. Its technology was used by major Web3 companies, including OpenSea and other large crypto platforms.

Privy’s most important milestone was its acquisition by Stripe. The deal demonstrated that wallet infrastructure had become strategically important to mainstream fintech.

The acquisition validated the core idea behind Privy: users should be able to interact with blockchain applications without necessarily needing to understand traditional crypto wallet technology.

She helped turn crypto wallets into invisible infrastructure for mainstream applications.

9. Meltem Demirors — Crucible Capital

Meltem Demirors, Founder and General Partner of Crucible Capital entered crypto in 2015 and later became Chief Strategy Officer at CoinShares, one of Europe’s most important digital-asset investment firms.

She subsequently focused on investment and infrastructure strategy across the digital-asset economy.

Her importance lies in connecting institutional finance with crypto-native infrastructure. Rather than building a single exchange or blockchain, she has worked across capital allocation, institutional strategy and market structure.

In 2026, she remains an active voice in debates around institutional crypto adoption, digital-asset markets and the future of blockchain infrastructure. She helped professionalise the institutional side of crypto investing.

10. Amanda Cassatt — Serotonin and Mojito

After serving as Chief Marketing Officer at ConsenSys, Amanda Cassatt founded Serotonin and later Mojito to help brands adopt Web3 technologies.

At ConsenSys, she helped introduce Ethereum and blockchain technology to mainstream businesses. She later built companies focused on Web3 marketing, product development and NFT commerce.

Her work helped brands understand how blockchain could be used in consumer products and digital commerce.

She helped bridge the gap between technical blockchain infrastructure and mainstream brands.

11. Leanne Kemp — Everledger

Leanne Kemp founded Everledger in 2015 to bring blockchain-based provenance tracking to supply chains.

The company initially focused on diamonds and luxury goods, using distributed ledgers to track the history and authenticity of physical products.

This was one of the earliest serious enterprise applications of blockchain outside cryptocurrency. Kemp demonstrated that blockchain could be used to solve practical problems involving fraud, ownership and supply-chain transparency.

Most importantly, she was among the earliest founders to take blockchain into real-world supply chains.

12. Jamila Gordon — Lumachain

Jamila Gordon founded Lumachain to combine blockchain, AI and cloud technology for supply-chain management.

The company’s work focuses on traceability, particularly in food and agriculture, where businesses need greater visibility into the movement and origin of products.

Gordon’s achievement is applying blockchain to a practical enterprise problem rather than building another speculative financial product.

13. Genevieve Leveille — AgriLedger

Genevieve Leveille co-founded AgriLedger to use blockchain for agricultural transparency and financial inclusion.

The platform focuses on improving supply-chain records and helping smallholder farmers gain better visibility into pricing and transactions.

Her background in institutional and corporate banking helped her identify how distributed ledgers could be used in emerging markets.

She applied blockchain to financial inclusion and agricultural markets.

14. Medha Parlikar — Casper Labs and VerQ

Medha Parlikar, Co-founder, Casper Labs; Co-founder and CEO, VerQ helped build Casper Labs, an enterprise-focused Layer-1 blockchain company.

She later moved into healthcare infrastructure through VerQ, applying blockchain engineering to a sector with strict compliance and payment requirements.

Her career represents the movement of blockchain technology from cryptocurrency toward enterprise and healthcare applications.

She has built across two difficult areas of blockchain adoption: enterprise infrastructure and regulated healthcare.

15. Linda Xie — Scalar Capital

Linda Xie, Co-founder and Managing Director, Scalar Capital was an early product manager at Coinbase, where she worked on compliance and anti-fraud initiatives.

She later co-founded Scalar Capital, a crypto investment firm with a strong technical and research-driven focus.

Her early Coinbase experience gave her direct knowledge of the challenges involved in building a regulated crypto platform. Scalar Capital subsequently focused on crypto infrastructure and technically complex digital assets.

16. Camila Russo — The Defiant

Camila Russo founded The Defiant in 2019 after beginning her career as a Bloomberg markets reporter.

She wrote The Infinite Machine, one of the best-known books about Ethereum’s history, before founding The Defiant.

The company developed into an independent media platform focused on DeFi and Web3. Russo built a business around explaining complex blockchain systems at a time when much of the mainstream media still struggled to understand them.

She built a major independent media platform around decentralized finance.

17. Staci Warden: Algorand Foundation

Staci Warden has led the Algorand Foundation as CEO since 2022, bringing experience from JPMorgan, Nasdaq, the U.S. Treasury, and the Milken Institute into the blockchain industry. Under her leadership, Algorand has doubled down on real-world blockchain adoption, expanding its work in tokenized assets, digital identity, stablecoins, and institutional finance. 

In 2026, the Foundation announced its strategic return to the U.S. with a new board, positioning Algorand to capitalize on improving crypto regulations while accelerating adoption across payments, tokenization, and financial infrastructure. 

Warden has also remained one of the industry’s most active voices on blockchain policy and financial inclusion, consistently promoting practical use cases over hype and pushing Algorand as infrastructure for the next generation of global finance.

18. Perianne Boring — The Digital Chamber

Perianne Boring founded The Digital Chamber (formerly Chamber of Digital Commerce) in 2014 before crypto policy became a major issue in Washington.

She built the organization into one of the most important blockchain advocacy groups in the United States. Its work has focused on digital-asset legislation, regulatory policy and engagement with lawmakers.

In 2026, Boring remained active in U.S. crypto policy debates, including discussions around market-structure legislation and the CLARITY Act. Her work has become particularly relevant as crypto companies seek clearer rules for operating in the United States.

She built one of the earliest dedicated crypto policy organizations in Washington.

19. Amber Baldet — Clovyr

Amber Baldet, Co-founder and CEO, Clovyr left JPMorgan after leading its Blockchain Center of Excellence and playing a key role in the development of Quorum, the bank’s enterprise Ethereum platform.

She co-founded Clovyr to build tools that help businesses deploy blockchain applications.

Her career shows the transition from blockchain experimentation inside major banks to independent companies building enterprise infrastructure.

She brought deep institutional banking experience into blockchain entrepreneurship.

20. Joyce Kim — Stellar Development Foundation

Joyce Kim co-founded Stellar alongside Jed McCaleb in 2014 and served as the first Executive Director of the Stellar Development Foundation. As the foundation’s first Executive Director, she helped shape Stellar’s mission of improving cross-border payments and expanding financial access for underserved communities. While she later stepped away from the organization, the vision she helped create continues to guide Stellar. 

In 2026, the network is expanding its focus on stablecoins, tokenized assets, and partnerships with financial institutions, continuing its goal of making global payments more efficient and inclusive.