Meet The Women Making Crypto Currency Less Cryptic

Determined to demystify the electronic economy, Binance’s three UAE-based powerhouses chat to Bazaar Arabia about storytelling, luxury and the lure of the industry for the region’s women

There seem to be three camps: early adopters who jumped onto the cryptocurrency bandwagon and gotten badly burnt or weathered the 2008 crash; those who are now dabbling cautiously, and those who don’t want to – or can’t – understand what it’s all about.

Meet The Women Making Crypto Currency Less Cryptic

Rachel Conlan, Binance’s Abu Dhabi-based Global Chief Marketing Officer, agrees the subject can feel intimidating. She is at the forefront of the industry, and understands the challenges – it’s her job to dispel the rumours and convince people to come on board. “I think a lot of people understand what I do in terms of brand, marketing and operations, but when it comes to the crypto space, it can be a bit harder to grasp,” she concedes. “Crypto itself is still new and complex for many, so even though my role involves strategic positioning and community engagement, there’s often confusion about what exactly we’re doing and how it all connects… My job involves not only guiding the brand but also helping people better understand how we’re shaping the future of finance, making the digital economy more accessible, and building trust within the crypto community.”

Although Rachel’s immediate role before Binance was in similar entity OKX, she made the move after cementing her career at Havas Communications and the Creative Artists Agency sports partnership division. She is in fact the perfect person to explain the space to a layman, having not come from a specialised tech or finance background.

When people refuse to understand the concepts behind crypto, or how it works, does it just boil down to laziness? Rachel doesn’t think so; “None of us understand how the back ends of Visa and MasterCard work, if you think about it. And I feel what we have done in the crypto industry over the last 10 years is overcomplicate some of the constructs and the concepts which have made it not as welcoming to what we call ‘normies’ or lay people. We’re at this pivotal juncture at the moment. I joined the industry full time three years ago and one of the reasons I joined is that I realised that if you don’t have people who can translate and break down what the concepts are and make them relatable, and make them tangible to people entering into the space, then you’re not going to succeed.”

Her skill-set aligned perfectly with the gap in the market. After all, earlier at Havas she had helped spearhead initiatives to bring a very traditional, exclusive LVMH into the digital landscape to reach new audiences and reshape brand engagement.

The crypto space is obviously looking for talent to make it more accessible, and bring in a crucial element of storytelling. People who can break things down, and share concepts. Players who can organise experiences and events like the recent Binance Blockchain Week at Dubai’s Coca-Cola Arena that featured speakers like HE Khalfan Belhoul, CEO of Dubai Future Foundation. They need representatives who can explain, and also sell – because acquiring new users, and securing their current ones is key to growth not just of Binance but of the crypto as a whole.

Case in point, Rachel’s colleague Frederica Tompkins Mitchell, Director of Global Brand Marketing, who also switched industries, moving from Paris – where she worked for Chanel – to join the Binance team in the Middle East. She cites the best advice she’s ever received as being: “If it’s not scary or uncomfortable, it’s not big enough. The more uncomfortable you are, the more you are learning. The fastest path to growth is discomfort experienced in a steep learning curve.” So it makes sense that she took the initiative to join a growing industry to fearlessly capitalise on its upward trajectory.

“I get a lot of questions that run the gamut of understanding, from ‘What is crypto or Blockchain?’ to ‘How do you market that?’ Given my role in the business, having these questions fired at me makes my job even more fulfilling – people are curious and that makes my job easier,” she laughs when pressed as to whether her contemporaries understand her role.

“Working in crypto has definitely been the most exciting, fast-paced portion of my career. One year in crypto is like five years in any other industry in terms of navigating change and industry growth and innovation,” the native New Yorker, who also worked in London, enthuses. The Psychology graduate from Vanderbilt University sees a rapid trajectory, with “more and more utility, and mass adoption. The developer community can solve real-world problems and the tech [will become] ubiquitous in people’s lives.”

Frederica was looking to pivot into the industry many years before she actually did. A dinner with the entrepreneurial Winklevoss twins in New York in 2015 – “they were really hard selling Bitcoin” – sparked her interest. At the time the “OG community was very developer-led” so she stalled actually investing until 2019 when “this ecosystem became a more user-led experience from a product perspective and you didn’t have to have developer skills to buy.”

The fact that you can do your own research and find out what you want to know on the internet was a big lure for her, as she felt traditional institutions like hedge funds or private wealth were gatekeeping access and information. “Aspiration really drives both,” she says of her current role and those she had in the luxury sector.

“It just look very different. People aspire to better their financial situations here, and in luxury their aspiration is around lifestyle.”

“What luxury has done incredibly well is reinvigorate a heritage story in a way that is relatable and timely. In crytpo’s early years everyone was so focused on product – if you had the best product you would ultimately be the best – that there’s been a lack of understanding and appreciation for the brand.”

French-born Egyptian Stephanie Emile has had a bit of a homecoming, returning to the region after living in the United Kingdom, and bringing her financial background and Computer Sciences degree – to the table after securing the General Manager role at Binance Dubai. Always ambitious, she said a work ethic was instilled in her by her role model, “My mum – she taught me that as a woman I didn’t need to set any boundaries in my career. She was running a medical lab in Jeddah, Saudi and everyone knew her as the go to for blood work.”

In her two years with the firm she’s seen it take great strides – Binance got its license in April 2024 – “a major breakthrough and career highlight”, and credits the UAE with helping it flourish. “The UAE is really ahead of the curve because theyˇve gone ahead and put together regulations and frameworks. They have welcomed all the players within the crypto industry. Other regions are looking at Dubai and the UAE as an example. They are really leading the way.”

Stephanie’s tech and finance training makes her a natural fit. “Iˇm a massive problem solver, so if something doesn’t make sense to me, I’m going to make it make sense. It might be annoying for others, but I keep asking why until I get it. And if it doesnˇt make sense, weˇre going to change it. So I think thatˇs my biggest skill. And when it comes to the team – it might be cliche, but my team’s my family, and Iˇm not going to be able to succeed if my team aren’t succeeding as well. We’re kind of in this together. We’ve gone through two years of an absolute roller coaster, and we’re sticking it through.”

All three are surprisingly sympathetic to naysayers too. “It started and was founded by technologists first and foremost,” says Rachel. “While Satoshi is a real person, he’s like Santa. We don’t even know if it is a girl or a boy. That also creates this kind of air of mystery. Is it real? But people are just starting to understand the depth of what the crypto industry has to offer. Where it gets really interesting, is in this next chapter of this journey, how we make the digital economy more accessible to people.”

Debunking the many myths that exist is par for the course for this trio. What are the biggest misconceptions? “Firstly that crypto is a scam. People saying it’s used for illicit transfers on the web. But less than 0.35 per cent of illicit funds are transferred through Blockchain because of its transparency. In traditional finance, it’s over 5 per cent. We’ve seen many traditional finance banks that have received significant fines due to not following money laundering rules,” Rachel tells us.

Many also feel that it is hard to enter into this space. There’s too many barriers. “I would argue that we have an obligation to educate and to help bring people on the journey. But it’s as simple as signing up for an account and buying a small amount of Bitcoin, or whatever your chosen token is. That education exists. You do have more of an obligation as a user to do your own research.” The fact that Binance has started an academy with entry level modules, and then further masterclasses is something newbies can sign up for.

In a world where bricks and mortar seems the mainstay, this also feels like a faceless industry. And people crave human contact. The answer? “If you even look at the events that have happened in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, it’s indicative that this is an asset class that is here to stay.”

It is also getting legitimised with more traditional elements declaring they’re embarking on crypto journeys too. “Goldman Sachs, Blackrock – they’re admitting that they have $710 million worth of Bitcoin sitting on their on their profit and loss statement. Firms like Amazon are talking about whether they put a certain amount of Bitcoin into their strategic reserves in shareholder meetings. Countries like El Salvador and now Trump in the US are putting Bitcoin as part of their treasury reserves,” enthuses Rachel, noticing the sea change that is happening. “But the biggest myth that exists is that this is a flash in the pan, get-rich quick or Ponzi scheme. And it most certainly isn’t. It’s something that’s here to stay and we’re just in the early stages of building it.”

It is also important for people to be able to use cryptocurrencies in their day-to-day transactions to make it feel more ‘real’. The industry is taking note, which is why in November of last year Binance announced a partnership with Printemps – users can now purchase luxury goods from the French department store. There’s also a similar integration with Farfetch. As Rachel says, “This is my desire in 2025. In order to get to that billion user base that we talk about, it needs to be part of the daily fabric of everyone’s life. So the same way you may use your digital cards saved in your phone, you’re using your crypto account in the same way.”

Essentially the industry want people to appreciate that they can use cryptocurrencies and do everything with them that they do in traditional banking sectors. Frederica explains that although she is mostly asked about trading, there are savings accounts and ‘current’ accounts you can utilise on a regular basis too.

The trio are also quick to dispense sound advice. There will be volatility in crypto – that’s the nature of any financial asset – but the important point is to invest within your means. “What scares me is when I hear people are taking out loans to buy Bitcoin or Ethereum – that’s not what this industry is about. It’s about using it as a method for saving,” cautions Rachel.

It’ll also become much easier to convince people once market penetration reaches higher numbers. If someone you trust is involved, you’re more likely to be swayed too. At the moment there are around 50 million users globally – interestingly enough, women in the MENA are at the forefront of adoption, with one in five users in the region being female, while it’s one in 20 globally.

What is striking is that these three women are at the forefront of the industry in the Middle East – in a sector traditionally associated with men. Or is it? “In Binance, 30 per cent of our management committee is female.

Our chief legal officer, our chief HR officer, Yi He our co-founder – she’s one of the most powerful women in this industry,” Rachel counters. “Globally about six per cent of founders in this space are female. Those numbers are starting to increase. My marketing and ops team is 51 per cent female. One of the reasons it’s so attractive, especially for senior women in the space – I had a child at the same time as entering into this industry full time – is because I work remotely, and I’m able to manage my day. The nature of our industry means that you can do that. I think this industry opens up more opportunities because it’s less about your gender, your background and your black book. It’s more about your passion, your capability and your ability to get it done and to drive the industry forward. Women are very good at that.

Photographed by Efraim Evidor. Styling by Charlotte Marsh-Williams