• Consensys and Black Women in Blockchain Council team up toward the ambitious objective to exponentially grow the presence of black women developers in the blockchain industry. 

  • As of  2018, less than a thousand black women in the world are software developers focused on blockchain development.

  • The online bootcamp that will be launched early 2022 by both organizations, aims at training more than 500,000 black women coders by 2030.

Consensys has teamed with Black Women in Blockchain Council (BWBC) to launch a global joint initiative next year, with the ambitious objective to drastically increase the number of black women blockchain coders, empowering half a million of them around the world by 2030.

In 2021, global crypto users passed 100 million and the number of users based in Africa or part of the African diaspora is rapidly growing. However, out of the millions of diaspora users, only a few actually participate in creating the protocols and apps that power the ecosystem. In 2018, only 105,000 of 18 million software developers focused on blockchain development. Less than 1% of those 105,000 developers were from the African diaspora, and even fewer were women. This new project has the ambition to shrink that gap.

BWBC and Consensys will launch specialized programming for black women in blockchain by 2022, according to a memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed recently. The full collaboration will foster opportunities for the African diaspora to create global blockchain opportunities and solutions. 

"The demand for blockchain developers is rising with the normalization of cryptocurrency," said Olayinka Odeniran, founder of Black Women in Blockchain Council (BWBC). "We are dedicated to positioning black women to helm this new tech wave, causing a ripple effect of new wealth generation among their families and communities."

"We at Consensys are excited to join forces with BWBC to drive talent with the goal to achieve global blockchain adoption. Diversity must be a part of the DNA of these systems for them to truly represent a global society," said Scott Olson, Director of Blockchain Integrations, Partnerships, and Education at Consensys.

This initiative directly contributes to 5 of United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): gender equality (SDG 5), education (SDG 4), entrepreneurship (SDG 8), innovation (SDG 9) and social inclusion (SDG 10).

“Such innovative technology has historically not been maximized within black communities,” Odeniran said. "We're changing that pattern for this wave of tech."

The entry fee for future black women blockchain developers across the globe to participate is $25. They just have to sign up directly on BWBC’s website: https://bwbc.io/blockchain/.

In the first phase of the project, the training material will only be available in English.

About BWBC

Founded in 2018 by Odeniran, a former Chief Compliance Officer turned Cybersecurity professional, BWBC is a leading global benefit organization that aims to increase representation and visibility in the technology ecosystem by promoting black wealth creation in blockchain and STEM. 

About Consensys

Consensys is the leading Ethereum software company. We enable developers, enterprises, and people worldwide to build next-generation applications, launch modern financial infrastructure, and access the decentralized web. Our product suite, composed of Infura, Quorum, Codefi, MetaMask, Truffle and Diligence, serves millions of users, supports billions of blockchain-based queries for our clients, and has handled billions of dollars in digital assets. Ethereum is the largest programmable blockchain in the world, leading in business adoption, developer community, and DeFi activity. On this trusted, open source foundation, we are building the digital economy of tomorrow. To explore our products and solutions, visit https://consensys.io.