According to Cathy Wu, head of investor relations at Multicoin Capital, Web3 has increased technology access and decentralization for women and minorities worldwide.
Ms. Wu, whose company invests in cryptocurrencies, tokens, and blockchain ventures, made the remarks during an Access Abu Dhabi session titled “The Future of Web3 is Female”, which discussed ways to make the sector more inclusive.
Women represented about 20% to 25% of the workforce in Web2, compared with 8% of Web3, said senior female US technology entrepreneurs during the session.
Web3 is the emerging third generation of the World Wide Web — blockchain, decentralization, openness, and greater user utility among its core components — while Web2 is the current iteration.
“We look forward to seeing more women coming into the Web3 space,” Olayinka Odeniran, founder and chairwoman of the Black Women Blockchain Council, which aims to inspire and train black women pursuing careers in blockchain and FinTech.
Ms. Odeniran is a member of the Women of Web3 delegation, a team of female US technology entrepreneurs who are exploring Abu Dhabi’s attractiveness as a potential gateway for the global expansion of their companies.
The Access Abu Dhabi initiative is powered by the Abu Dhabi Investment Office (Adio) and Maven Global Access, which aims to help US companies led by women and minority entrepreneurs to expand in the UAE capital and serve as a gateway to the wider Middle East market.
Web3’s market size is expected to be valued at about $6.2 billion in 2023 and is projected to grow at a compound annual rate of 44.6% from 2023 to 2030, according to Market Research Future.
Web2, which emerged in the early 2000s, resulted in the rise of more interactive web pages, with millions of people around the world able to view user-generated content in an instant.
It increased even further with the introduction of sophisticated mobile devices, social networks, and other media platforms.
Web1, its forerunner from the mid-1990s, employed static content with minimal interactivity and capability.
According to Ms. Odeniran, Web3 “means utopia” and is a vision of a world where everyone has equal opportunity and may benefit from blockchain technology.
