A passion for financial feminism

Welcome to GM, BFF, a newsletter hitting your inbox every week with key insights from web3, crypto, our community and beyond.?This newsletter is written by?Guest Editor Megan DeMatteo ?while I am on maternity leave.

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Happy Valentine’s Day week, BFFs! It’s?been said ?that crypto is an inherently feminist technology, and in the spirit of the holiday we’d love nothing more than to gush about why we’re so passionate about this possibility.

To begin, let’s talk about permissionless-ness: This week, we spoke to SheFi founder,?Maggie Love , about why she is so passionate about onboarding women to decentralized finance (DeFi). It’s not about “mooning” or making high-risk bets on crypto tokens. Rather, the magic of blockchain is in the open-access infrastructure that allows anybody — no matter their background, credit score or financial standing — to participate in systems that have historically had gatekeepers.

A former IBM consultant, Love noticed right away that her belief in blockchain-based infrastructure was great. In 2018, before starting SheFi, she co-founded a blockchain data center startup, W3BCLOUD. The tech firm is now?planning to go public ?at a $1.25 billion valuation.

Talk about passion! “I'm going into bed and closing my eyes and just thinking about blockchain topics,” Love said, adding she’s particularly interested in making concepts more accessible. “I love hearing people's stories, what they learned and how they’re taking it to the next level.”

Love’s story is both refreshing and inspiring — especially while we’re in what feels often like a never-ending bear market slump. But it’s during these downmarket moments when we find our passion. We tap into our deeper “why” and remember the real motivation behind the choice to put our time, energy and effort into building the future we want.

“You have to find work that aligns with who you are,” advises Love. “I think so many people aren't doing that.”

So, what’s your deeper motivation for sticking with the Web3 journey? What burning passions or incessant curiosities keep you here? Hit “reply” and let us know!

Read More On BFF Discover

Catch Up Quick

The FBI seizes a Bored Ape. ?The FBI recently seized Bored Ape #9658, along with a Doodle and 87 ETH, from an infamous crypto scammer that goes by the name “Horror.”

ChatGPT creator calls for AI regulation. ?OpenAI CTO Mira Murati discussed the weaknesses of artificial intelligence with TIME, noting that AI should be delivered to the public “in a way that’s controlled and responsible.”

Google botches its bot debut. ?The company announced its ChatGPT competitor Bard, but the bot failed to dazzle, causing Alphabet shares to fall roughly 7%.

B*tch better have my money. ?A crypto startup collaborated with music producer Jamil “Deputy” Pierre, who sold his streaming rights to Rihanna’s smash hit song for 300 NFTs. Holders of the “B*tch Better Have My Money” NFTs will get the chance to receive streaming royalties when the song is played.

U.S. crypto regulation heats up. ?As Kraken paid a $30 million fine and?shut down U.S. staking , SEC Chairman Gary Gensler released a?three-minute video ?explaining the agency’s charges against the centralized exchange for selling unregistered securities.?

No Super Bowl ads this year — but yes to Super Bowl NFTs. ?While crypto ads were noticeably absent at this year Super Bowl LVII, Reddit pulled off a collaboration with the NFL to create football-themed collectible avatars.

From Our Founding BFFs

Women Rise and Qissa Founder Maliha Abidi?spoke to BFF Guest Editor Megan DeMatteo ?about how she sustains motivation and stays true to herself.?

M13 Partner Anna Barber?was?featured in The LA Times ?for leading a $12 million Series A funding round for home day-care startup WeeCare.

BFF Events

Thanks for reading! We’d love to hear from you. Feel free to let us know what you think of this newsletter and what you’d like to see from it in the future by replying directly.??

?? This newsletter and all the information in it does not constitute financial advice. If you don’t want to invest money or time in Web3, you don’t have to. As always: Do your own research.