“Trying to raise money for privacy is like selling umbrellas in a drought. You know the rain’s coming, but no one wants to invest until they’re already soaked.”

Last week, a collection of builders, donors, and philosophical troublemakers gathered in a virtual bar known as X Spaces to discuss the noble and bewildering task of funding privacy in a world that keeps confusing it with invisibility.

With Gavin Birch (Luminara, Namada), Peter Van Valkenburgh (Coin Center), Ben West (Pretty Good OSINT Protocol), Andreas (Fileverse), Lefteris Karapetsas (rotki), and our own contributors, - Jensei, Alina Latinina and Mykola Siusko.

https://twitter.com/web3privacy/status/1925566390720762332?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1925566390720762332%7Ctwgr%5E2ced6140431e9d4bd1cf962cb94e2b0439bc5644%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmirror.xyz%2F0x0f1F3DAf416B74DB3DE55Eb4D7513a80F4841073%2FJjbWa0CK2RKP3c1pRrl3d1yptrXkrYIe9YQLGoxdX7M

What followed was part strategy session, part group therapy, and part existential performance art. The topic? Public goods funding. The subtext? How to keep the lights on without selling your soul to a venture capitalist wearing sunglasses indoors.

Act I: The Economics of Independence (or, Trickledown Privacy and Other Fairy Tales)

You see, most people think public goods work like fairy dust. You sprinkle some donations, flap your arms meaningfully, and out comes privacy for everyone. In practice, it’s more like trying to crowdfund a spellbook while fending off dragons with a pamphlet.

The truth is this:

“Either you build slow and true, or you chase the money and watch your soul slowly wither”

Privacy tools don’t trend. They don’t go viral (unless you count surveillance tools). They don’t meme well, unless you’re a particularly principled lobster.¹

But that doesn’t mean they’re not essential. It just means you’ll have to build like a monk, market like a jester, and fundraise like a pirate.

Act II: The Three Laws of Privacy Funding (As Discovered by People Who Tried)

1. You will hit a wall.

   Not metaphorically. The wall will have names like “KPIs,” “strings attached,” and “we don’t have budget for that”.

2. Don’t take money from just anyone.

   Especially not from mysterious tech princes who think privacy is a feature toggle. Your mission is not a vending machine.

3. You will have to communicate.

   With users, with donors, and with each other. If privacy is your product, then trust is your marketing, and unfortunately, this one doesn’t speak in KPIs.

Lefteris summed it up nicely:

“If you don’t have the persona, you’ll have less traction.”

Which is unfair, really. But so is gravity.

Act III: Tools, Tips, and Acceptable Forms of Madness

Some practical tools emerged, usually mid-rant:

• Start small. Proof of concepts, memes, weird experiments. Privacy isn’t viral, but curiosity is.

• Consider a membership model. Give people a way to chip in regularly, especially if they love the vibes.

• Find angels early. Not the glowing kind with wings. The kind with wallets and a history of backing strange and beautiful things.

• Hire someone to help raise funds. Yes, they’ll take a fee. No, you cannot keep doing this alone.

• Mix and match. Grants, bounties, merch, dev work, public speaking, a traveling cabaret if you must. Survival is patchwork.

  Most importantly:

  “Don’t optimize. Don’t pitch. Just make it obvious you care”.

Act IV: A Word on Hope (and Other Unreliable Narrators)

Throughout the Space, there was an undercurrent of something dangerous: earnestness.

Some still believe in the idea of privacy as a shared right. Some still believe funding can come from people who don’t want to own you. Some even believe, and get this, that we need more naive, angry activists who haven’t yet learned to compromise.

And perhaps that’s the best kind of wisdom we can offer:

Be the kind of person who would get rugged for a good cause. It won’t make you rich. But it might just help the rest of us stay free.

And if you thought this tale ended with a neat moral and a donor-shaped deus ex machina, think again. The next chapter is TAPE_02, unofficially titled “Nobody Gives a Shit About Women or Privacy”, because subtlety is for people with marketing budgets.

It’s a conversation between myself and PG from Web3Privacy Now, who two years ago wandered into the woods of funding idealistic tech and somehow made it out alive (albeit with a slight eye twitch). We talk about the usual suspects: budgets, BD calls, and the philosophical nightmare of trying to define “alignment” without descending into PowerPoint decks.

Also making an appearance: Womxn in Web3 Privacy, or @winprivacy if you’re short on characters and long on vision. Think of it as the feminist infrastructure division of the resistance, incorporating research, Safe Events Initiative and Sisterhood programs.

Spoiler: there are no easy answers, but at least there’s company.

¹ Lobby Lobsters, for the uninitiated, is what happens when fundraising meets seafood NFTs.

There are business meetings, and then there are Meetings-with-a-capital-M, the kind where bullish CEOs swap trade secrets with state leaders who wear optimism the way magpies wear other people’s jewelery, and princes who measure personal growth in cruise missiles per annum.¹

That, more or less, is the crowd lining up to license, bankroll, and otherwise hitch their fortunes to the latest large-language models.

Tech marketing loves to paint itself as a force for universal good, but a hammer is still a hammer; in good hands it builds a cottage, otherwise it builds a cage.

Why the grand timing matters

• Public trust crumbling, - fewer than four in ten citizens say they believe their national government will “do the right thing”. AI can be marked as a data driven “neutral” referee, handy when public is distrustful of governments and the news.

• Economic volatility and climate shocks, - pushing more agencies to adopt forecasting models, showing off their confident decision making.

• More businesses adopt AI to keep running with less human staff.

• Regulations are still catching up, - AI models can be dropped quickly and have their own rulebooks (hint - it will be written in their favor).

Let’s take a look at the AI in this mess: calm, corporate, and wearing the smug smile of someone who passed every exam because it secretly set the questions.

Its purpose isn’t to set anyone free; it’s to seal the existing power structure in place so any mess can be wiped away without changing a thing.

Once you blend those four trends together, you have a disaster soufflé that rises every time the oven door opens. Distrust invites leaders to hide behind “objective” dashboards; volatility lets them blame the dashboard when things go wrong; labour shortages means nobody’s left to question the dashboard in the first place; and sluggish regulators arrive just in time to rubber-stamp whatever the dashboard already decided.

That isn’t progress, it’s power in concentrate, poured into every crack until the whole system sets rock-hard around whoever grabbed the handle first.

- Bad, bad, BAD.

The hardware reality

You see, AI runs on infrastructure, the sort built from data-centres, GPUs, and enough electricity to re-animate a cathedral. Police departments, intelligence agencies, nation states usually have this technology, and the public generally does not.

🎡 Economic fallout

Meanwhile your job description is being rewritten in real time, well, mostly in the past tense. Purchasing power shrivels, voices shrink, and the public square is paved over to make room for a Terms-of-Service update.

🎡 Culture shift (or full stop?)

People move from CREATING to consuming Slop™, that endless, auto-generated sludge of articles, clips and images that quietly decides what matters. The recommender system does the sorting; you just keep scrolling.

🎡 Social Osteoporosis

Students no longer swap raised eyebrows with teachers; they consult ChatGPT, who never smirks and always knows the bell-curve.²

Call it - social osteoporosis -where the connective tissue of daily life thins and flakes away under a steady diet of algorithmic substitutes. A few early symptoms:

• Office camaraderie, - Google Meet AI summary may make your workflow more productive, but it eliminates convos with your colleagues, which may birth new ideas, connections and laughs.

• Dating & friendship, - swiping based on algorithm, optimizing for clicks and engagement, but not for messy stories narrated at weddings.

• Music discovery, - personalized playlist every Monday? Yay, let’s stay in our lanes and not discover an underground artist, or something new about your taste.

• Mental check-ins, - who needs late night friend phone calls, when ChatGPT can greet you with canned empathy!

Left unchecked, those tiny fractures add up. Bones still hold the body together; human exchanges still hold society together, until we outsource enough of them and wonder why everything feels brittle.

And behind the curtain?

The real peril is the quiet swapping of relationships for machinery whose answers ultimately route to a single billing address. Whoever owns the Box owns:

Information. Money. Healthcare. Borders.

Your loan approval, your biopsy queue, your vocabulary of outrage.

Investors aren’t pouring billions into AI only for quarterly profits; they’re buying a stabilizer to use when the climate worsens, markets lurch, or streets fill with demonstrations. It’s the ultimate blueprint for control.

Gunpowder made the bow and arrow obsolete.

AI might do the same to dissent.

What individuals can do:

• Learn and ask humans questions: A Crash Course in AI Disruption, Privacy 101, WTF is GDPR and Why Should I Care.

• Run smaller models locally so your data stays on your machine.

• Support open-source projects, like web3privacy now.

• Treat privacy like hygiene: change settings often, share sparingly. Insist on it.

• Back builders who show, rather than just claim, social value.

AI is powerful. It is useful. But in the wrong hands, it’s not a revolution.

It’s a lock, disguised as a door.

¹ He does do TED Talks, technically. The T stands for “tank,” the E for “escalation,” and the D is classified.

² It also never forgets; ask any plagiarist who assumed otherwise.

Header and paintings by Thomas Bossard.

1. I will skip the intro on explaining how women have been excluded structurally, and sometimes legally from many industries, and no one can argue that women are still a minority in crypto (and tech).

2. Before someone hops into the comments to tell me that tech is ‘gender-neutral,’ it is in theory, but the industry doesn’t operate in a vacuum - it’s shaped by the existing biases and structures of the society.

3. When I talk about women - I mean anyone who identifies as a woman. If you come at me with the “I identify as a refrigerator” kind of shit, with all due disrespect - get off my page.

4. I also want to acknowledge that while this article doesn’t dive into layers of intersectionality, it has a big role shaping women’s experiences.

5. If you come from a privileged background and you think that women’s experience is the same as men’s, propagating the idea that it’s the only truth denies women a chance to openly discuss concerns, share experiences, and build supportive networks.

6. It’s not just Ladies Champagne Problems - there are structural issues that perpetuate bias, limit opportunities and create unwelcoming or even unsafe environments for women.

7. The point of this writing is to raise awareness, affirm experiences and propose changes. I’m open to feedback, critiques and comments, as long as they are coming with good intentions. We are all learning.

So let’s get into it.

Web3 (+Privacy) is evolving fast, breaking out of it’s “nerds-only” bubble and making it’s way into mainstream narratives. We are a community built on ideals of decentralization and empowering individuals, and now is a critical moment to make sure we adhere to those values moving forward.

I would like to see the community steer in a way that web3 will not just be another male-dominated tech space, and it will create equal opportunities for all, as well as amplifying voices and perspectives of women and underrepresented groups. This is not a moral whim, it is a necessary step towards an innovative and balanced ecosystem.

If I had a penny for every “are you here with your boyfriend”, - I’d have enough to make bank on girl coins. At first I thought this guy just wanted to flirt and didn’t deserve the cold reply, but as that comment followed me around from conference to conference I started to see that it’s the assumption. The assumption that I am at a web3 event not because I’m working, but because I’m there with a man.

Have you heard anyone ask a guy if he’s at a web3 event because his girlfriend brought him there? I haven’t.

And look - it’s not an unforgivable crime. We grow up with those biases, all of us, but our job (as builders of a better ecosystem) is to notice them, and work on them.

So how do other women feel about their position in web3? Nine women shared their experiences with me, - if they feel well represented in the industry and what changes they are proposing to make the space more inclusive.

Let’s start off with the web3 origin stories. Besides being my favorite question to ask, I wanted to role-play as a data detective and see if there were any common patterns.

“It’s rewarding to be part of something that’s reshaping industries in real-time, and within fast-moving streams there's always more opportunity” Lisa Loud pointed out, “especially if you're someone who encounters barriers in climbing the traditional career ladder”.

Jillian Godsil embodies the spirit of disruption, turning personal hardship into activism and finding that the perfect tool to challenge outdated systems and drive change is blockchain. In better words: Jillian said “fuck dumb systems” and found that she can continue doing that through blockchain.

The one story that resonated most with me (selfishly, because I had a very similar origin story), was Teresa Li’s. Her defining moment of pledging allegiance to blockchain was when “a documentary I co-created years ago was taken down from media platforms because it was perceived as politically sensitive on a theme restricted in certain countries in Asia. It was a wake-up call about the fragility of traditional systems and the lack of control creators have over their work. That experience forced me to question existing structures and search for alternative ways to create and share freely.”

Vyara Savova commented that web3 is “the most challenging and the most meaningful work she could do as a human rights-turned-tech lawyer”, and added that “web3 is absolute hell for privacy practitioners, so naturally, I love it.” You go girl.

Besides all having the same motivations that in a Venn diagram would spell out: INNOVATION, MEANINGFUL WORK and FINANCIAL EMPOWERMENT, the women I have talked to have come from all kinds of backgrounds: law, finance, maths, marketing, and even music. Just imagine the transferable skills!

So if we imagine (I like to imagine things) blockchain as a living organism (don’t ask questions), to understand how things work now we need to look in the past. Leaving Freudianism to the therapists, let’s just ask: “how was it when you started?”

For many, entering web3 felt like stepping into a “sausage fest,” as Jillian bluntly put it.

Albena Kostova, on the other hand did not notice the gender gap at first but “with years going by, it became clear to me that women are much less represented in web3 industry, and are often undervalued and looked down on.”

Vyara shared that “while women practically dominate certain aspects of the legal profession in Eastern Europe, tech law is definitely not among them. This meant that I was not only unique in entering the tech law space but even more so when I got involved in the Web3 legal and policy area—quite a lot of firsts.”

She also added a fun fact: the core EUCI team, which Vyara is part of now, - is all women.

Things have been undoubtedly getting better throughout time, as Marina remarked “when I first started, it felt like women made up just 1% of the industry! It’s been heartening to see that number grow significantly over the years, and I estimate that women now make up around 15-20% of the space.”

“There’s been a noticeable shift” Teresa agrees, “while my first impression was that web3 is a heavily male-dominated industry, and not just male-oriented, but particularly male developer-oriented, now more women are taking on more diverse roles in the space. While many come from traditional web2 backgrounds, such as marketing, I’ve seen them pick up programming and pivot toward technical roles like DevRel.”

“Things like SheFi and Chipped made a big stamp on the place. It is great to see this progress, and greater visibility. Though, I still lack successful/visible yet technical role models”, Anon shared.

Albena compared “the difference now and several years ago is that there are many communities, academies, and protocols particularly created to serve and onboard women. That’s awesome, but I’m not sure if it would influence how women are perceived, hired, and paid. I hope I’m wrong.”

Things are better, but it’s a work in progress. So how do women feel now?

“I’ve been fortunate not to face gender-related challenges. Web3 has a meritocratic ethos that prioritizes results over stereotypes, making it a refreshing space to work in compared to traditional industries” Marina shares.

Angelica Vidal talked about “the only recurring experience I’ve had is being met with, “Let me guess… marketing?” when I introduce myself - an assumption made because I’m a woman. While it can feel patronizing, I choose to brush it off. And if I ever get the sense that I’m being treated differently because I’m a woman, I know I’m in the wrong room.” (I’m taking notes ✍️) “In my experience, the industry is actively seeking to bring more women into the field and is making a concerted effort to identify and support women in the space.”

“I have not experienced any issues - but it makes me sad when there are only men in the room. I don’t underestimate the role of male advocates for women - but it makes me happy when there are more women and more equal representation.” Jillian shared. “In fact sometimes it works better to be a woman in this space - we stand out.”

Tina Petkova shared that “women in tech shouldn’t be seen as different from men in tech. While gender dynamics are improving, there’s still progress to be made. I don’t like it when women are treated differently, and buzz words like ‘inclusivity’ and ‘diversity’ sometimes make it seem like we’re a separate group - when in reality, we shouldn’t be. The focus should be on equality, and I’m proud to say that the women I know in web3 are just as important and accomplished professionals as the men in the field.”

But can web3 truly be inclusive if we assume everyone has the same experience? Let’s dive into some of the other stories.

Anon describes web3 as “still clearly male dominated, very competitive, very money oriented, and these are not places to breed differing views”. She shared how she has been “constantly underestimated and undermined” by colleagues and not to cause conflict, she doesn’t talk back nearly as much as she should.

Reflecting on the broader culture, she noted “because web3 culture is not yet set or socially regulated, it's very bro-ey, - much more than web2 or finance. But these challenges aren’t new, just another boys’ club we navigate, dropping some flowers and cushions along the way.” Despite these challenges, she highlighted moments of growth and a few positive connections. But remember: just because its not all bad, doesn’t mean there’s no space to improve.

Also, the anonymity offers an interesting point: “when I hide behind my male looking pfp, I do nothing and I'm treated as if I'm famous”.

“I knew I was stepping into a very male-dominated space, but instead of being scared off, I embraced it” Lisa told me, “I decided that being the one who was different brought some advantages along with the challenges, and I threw myself into the mission of being a different voice, being noticeable, and above all, bringing a sense of humor to every challenging situation. Yes, there were moments where I was simply shut down. Other times, I had to prove my credibility more than my male counterparts. I navigated those challenges by staying focused, building strong alliances, and picking myself up after every defeat. Sometimes it took me a few days, a few weeks, or a few months, but I always kept going.”

Lisa continues: “many of the challenges mirrored those in fintech: breaking into networks, overcoming biases, and balancing visibility with privacy. Some of them are unique to a decentralized world - people hide behind anonymity for their worst trolling behaviors.”

Albena feels like “women in web3 are consistently underestimated. A man, even an inexperienced one, is automatically trusted, whereas a woman always needs to prove herself, frequently over and over. Unfortunately, there’s no other way to overcome these challenges than to work harder than men and try to consistently deliver outstanding results. The problem is that such approach regularly leads to exhaustion and burnout.”

“Not only are women much fewer, but they’re also not perceived as building the space. The builders are always men, whereas women are there to support them. Women are seen as only suitable for marketing, communication, operations positions: still crucially important roles, don’t get me wrong, but often belittled as compared to software engineering.”

Teresa brings up a continuation point: “as someone in a unique role (not a developer, but not purely in marketing or BD), I often find myself bridging gaps between technical and non-technical perspectives. Early on, I noticed that at conferences, developers tended to prioritize conversations with other developers.”

“However, as I’ve taken the time to dive deeper into cryptography and how to effectively communicate with technical people, I was able to gradually bridge that gap. The space itself is also evolving, which is encouraging. Initially, my unique role of working closely with highly technical people, despite not being a developer myself, sometimes made me feel undervalued - especially at conferences where technical expertise often takes precedence. However, through continuous learning and self-improvement, this has become less of a challenge for me.”

As it seems there are two different accounts. As Lisa noticed: “I see a lot of resistance to the idea that there's any need for change in some areas. It's almost like we have two realities - the one in which women are growing their support and collaboration with each other, and the other that's still male-dominated and not even discussing the issues. These two areas are growing farther apart in my own experiences.”

“So what do we do now?”

Having support networks has been highlighted over and over.

“I always feel supported largely because I’ve made a conscious effort to surround myself with people who have the right mindset and genuinely want to make the space better. Being in such an environment makes it easier to figure out your direction even when things feel uncertain at times” Teresa shared.

Tina noted that “women in tech are like a tribe—they never leave you behind.” As well as Jillian mentioning that “web3 is not much different to other industries in this sense, except women in web3 are very supportive.”

Both Angelica and Marina said that they feel incredibly supported by their work environment. And it goes beyond teams - “without my coaches, my allies, and my supporters, I could not have kept going” says Lisa.

Jillian highlighted the importance of IRL events: “but then let’s make sure we actually speak” and mentioned a concern where “while hosting ‘women’ events can be isolating - it is often that only women can get involved. So, host women events but invite men too - perhaps to the second half of the day.”

“I would love more space for the technical women. They are the ones least likely to ask for it” Anon remarked.

Lisa says “mentorship and funding for women-led projects are crucial. Representation at all levels is key to fostering an inclusive culture. We need to normalize women’s leadership in every facet of web3.”

Marina also highlighted “expanding educational programs like SheFi or SheHacks would be incredibly valuable. These initiatives should cater not only to coding but also to other roles in the web3 ecosystem. Such efforts would be particularly impactful in regions like Eastern Europe, Asia, and Africa, where women’s access to these opportunities is often limited.”

“One key area for improvement is communication” Teresa tells, “in a developer-heavy industry like Web3, abstract ideas can be challenging to convey effectively, especially to non-technical audiences. Initiatives that focus on translating technical concepts into accessible language can bridge the gap and empower more people to engage meaningfully with the space. It will not only help onboard more women but also create a more collaborative and inclusive environment. Workshops, mentorship programs, and cross-disciplinary panels are great steps forward, but they must emphasize clarity and accessibility to have a lasting impact.”

Can’t forget the key question here: what does a supportive space for women looks like to you?

Angelica said: “fair and equal pay, genuine respect, and thoughtfulness in the details, even like having tampons in the bathroom. It also includes clear opportunities for advancement and inclusive leadership that values diverse perspectives. Flexible work policies that support work-life balance are also key to creating an environment where women can thrive. Especially for new parents”, she continues, “I want more opportunities to lead without the added pressure of having to justify my presence as a woman in the space. I’d like to see a shift where inclusion is a given, not a goal.”

“A truly supportive space is one where women are treated equally to men—no special treatment, just fairness”, as Marina stated.

Teresa: “A supportive space for women should go beyond onboarding and focus on tailored opportunities that help women identify what they want to pursue in the long term. While onboarding workshops are plentiful, I believe the next step is guiding women to explore different domains, whether it’s marketing, BD, programming, or cryptography, and helping them realize their potential in areas they may not have initially considered. This personalized guidance is crucial for women to find their place and thrive in the space. It’s not about limiting choices but about creating pathways and resources to make these fields more approachable.”

A question I was very curious to ask was, “what do you think about all-women panels?” In my experience people are either all for or against, and myself personally, I’m still not sure, but if it pushes more women to be on stage - I’m in. Women in web3 Privacy initiative is making a list of female speakers to help that.

Most agreed that the panels can be good - as long as it’s not just a space for women to talk about being women. Albena noted that you don’t need to have all women panels as long as you strive to have a larger female representation across the speaker roster, like the organizing team (which is predominantly women) did in ETHSofia.

Some notes on what we don’t want:

• overemphasis on gender at the expense of merit or relevance to the discussion

• alienating possible male advocates

• tokenism or performative gestures that focus more on appearances than substance

• girls sexualizing themselves to get ahead and become more interesting

• initiatives that unintentionally narrow their focus or create echo chambers

I’d love to thank these wonderful women for taking the time to answer my questions, and to share their experiences and insight. You are the rockstars of my heart. 🎸

I feel like this should have a powerful ending, and I would love for the ladies to have the honors of having the last words.

Words of advice for women entering web3:

“You’re probably reading more than your male colleagues, so don’t be afraid to show that knowledge off.” Vyara

“Do what you need to do to hold on to your confidence, but don't become arrogant.” Anon

“Trust your instincts and don’t be afraid to take up space. Build strong networks, stay curious, and embrace the learning curve—it’s part of the journey.” Lisa

“Same as other industries - find your passion, find your tribe and jump in!” Jillian

“Stay curious and assert yourself. You’re meant to be here.” Angelica

“Join no matter what. Web3 is super exciting, intriguing, and a playground of innovation. There’s no other industry like that!” Albena

“Getting into Web3 today is much easier than it was when I started. Back then, resources were scarce, DYOR was more than just a phrase, it was a necessity. While I still stand by the importance of DYOR, there are now so many communities, mentors, and accessible materials that make the journey more approachable. Don’t be afraid to reach out and ask questions.

Another piece of advice is to develop a broad understanding of how the system works. Having a strong grasp of the overall ecosystem is essential. Take the time to understand the foundation of blockchain, the roles of different technologies, and how they interact. Expanding your breadth of knowledge will give you the confidence to navigate the space and find your niche.” Teresa

“Be bold, brave, and relentless. Work hard and work smart—this combination will open up incredible opportunities.” Marina