Blockchain Women Ireland has (BWI) been founded in the Irish Republic to further advance awareness of the blockchain sector in the country.
The idea behind the new group is to promote blockchain as a potential career for women and also keep the community up to date with educational opportunities in the industry.
Ireland currently has a forward-thinking approach to blockchain technology. Earlier this year, the National University of Ireland (NUI), authors of a study on the adoption of blockchain, approached the government to promote a more widespread use of the technology in the country.
One of the findings of that study showed that only 40% of companies in Ireland had embraced blockchain technology, which the researchers felt was relatively low, despite Ireland’s 13th position on Bloomberg’s 2018 Innovation Index, with high productivity scores and advanced IT infrastructure.
The members of the new group cover a wide scope of financial representatives in the country including the Department of Finance, BNY Mellon and the Science Foundation Ireland-funded Adapt research centre for digital content technology. BWI includes two prominent women from the business sector: Mai Santamaria, a senior financial director at the Department of Finance, and Joyce O’Connor, founding president of the National College of Ireland and chairwoman of the Institute of International and European Affairs’ digital future working group.
The group also includes representatives from the cryptocurrency sector including ConsenSys. Santamaria, a senior financial director at the Department of Finance who leads a working group on blockchain, suggested that one of the aims of the BWI will be to cut through some of the hype that currently haunts the industry and offer further opportunities for women:
“The reality is that it is hard to reach out to the blockchain community, particularly if you are a woman with an interest in technology but who isn’t necessarily a coder or similar. We’re trying to establish a network that will help those who want to know more about blockchain, to demystify it and to open doors for those who may want a career in the sector.”
About 85% of Irish citizens currently know about Bitcoin according to a recent study, a major increase from less than 50% during a 2014 Amarach poll. Some 44% of Irish citizens who own cryptocurrency own Bitcoin, making it the most popular cryptocurrency in Ireland, while 30% own Litecoin and 27% own Ethereum.
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