Leeanne Abapo Senn, a blockchain enthusiast and women’s empowerment advocate, recently told Swissinfo.ch that as a member of Switzerland’s Zug-based Crypto Valley Association (CVA), she believes in “creating a space that works for everyone rather than just carry on with the same old boys’ club and their cronies.”
Senn added that it’s important to have a “more inclusive ecosystem” that “elevates” the “dynamic women” in the crypto and blockchain industry. Swissinfo describes the CVA as an organization that now “carries real political and economic clout.”
Only Male Board Members
Founded in 2017, the CVA has emerged as a “rallying point” for over 1,000 blockchain startups, crypto consultants, digital currency lawyers, and many other fintech professionals. Going on to explain the CVA’s global impact on the evolving crypto industry, the article mentions the organization has been working cooperatively with regulators to develop a progressive regulatory framework for digital currencies.
However, Senn, who’s in charge of CVA’s communications working group, has criticized the election process for the self-regulating organization’s board members. She pointed out that four of the board’s male members, which include former UBS chief information officer Oliver Bussmann, had been re-elected in June. The fifth new board member elected was also male.
Senn further noted the nomination procedure for CVA’s board members lacked transparency, “considering that [since] practically all CVA members have social media accounts, it would have been easy to have given more publicity to this important process.”
43 Nominations For New Female Board Members
A meeting has now been scheduled for September 20 in order to appoint two additional women board members to lead the CVA. Reportedly, there are currently 43 nominations that have been submitted for these board positions.
Due to the large number of potential candidates for these senior management positions, it may now become challenging to conduct a fair election to appoint two new female members as the crypto organization’s board members.
Commenting on the benefits of adding women to the CVA’s board of directors, the organization said they “will serve to strengthen the Association through a diversity of perspectives, experience and skills.”
Performing Similar Roles
Explaining how the new female board members will be expected to fulfill their leadership roles, Senn noted:
“The two new members of the board will fill similar roles to those of the current members, including co-chairing the CVA working groups, receiving international delegations, interacting with other Swiss and international organizations, presenting the CVA and Crypto Valley at external events and supporting the CVA's own local and international initiatives.”
As CryptoGlobe covered in July, the Swiss town of Zug, where the CVA has been established, is well-known for being a tax haven with some of the lowest income tax rates in the world. Because of its business-friendly policies, Jon, the COO of crypto exchange ShapeShift, said his company and many other blockchain startups “identified Zug, and in Switzerland in general, as a place that [would be] open to” crypto-related innovation.
Notably, there are now over 100 blockchain startups and organizations operating in Crypto Valley. They include the Ethereum Foundation, ConsenSys, Lisk, Xapo, the Cardano Foundation, among many others.
