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- 1 Meltem Demirors is one of the most influential personalities and women entrepreneurs in the crypto industry.
- 2 Her investments and contributions toward the blockchain space are remarkable and inspiring to many.
Meltem Demirors is one of the most renowned personalities in the crypto space. With investments in over 200 crypto companies, she’s a leading crypto investor. The 230k followers on X (formerly Twitter) make her quite a famous personality within the blockchain-based social media space. Fortune magazine gave her the 38th rank in its “The Ledger 40 Under 40” list in 2018.
She shared the title with the likes of Tina Bhatnagar and Arianna Simpson. In the same year, she was named one of the “5 Notable Women in the Blockchain and Crypto Industry.” So far, her career has been a successful ride and there are so many things to talk about. Thus, let’s dig into it and see how Demirors achieved all these feats.
Early Life, Education, & Career
Born on May 14, 1987, in the Netherlands, Demirors spent her early 10 years of life in the Dutchland. Both her parents were Turkish immigrants and pursued education there. Her father was a PhD holder who worked as a researcher in a chemical company. Her mother finished her major in accounting and raised Meltem and her brother Elm.
When Meltem was 10 years old, her family moved to Michigan, United States. She graduated from high school in 2004 and pursued a Bachelor of Arts from Rice University (Texas). In 2009, she finished her undergraduate with a Major in Mathematical Economic Analysis.
Shortly after that, Meltem joined Exxon Mobil Corporation as a Corporate Treasurer. After a brief period, she left the organization and joined Deloitte as a “Strategy & Operation Consultant”. While working at Deloitte, she got an offer for a sponsorship program for higher studies.
Although she enrolled in the program initially, she gave it up later without completing it. After a while, she joined the same program through a student loan. For higher studies, Demirors chose MIT Sloan School of Management. She pursued a two-year full-time MBA program and passed out in 2015.
At the business school, she became a member of the “MIT Bitcoin Club”. Her interest in cryptocurrency was piqued and she co-founded the “MIT FinTech Club”. Right after passing out, she worked for a very brief period as a Marketing Consultant at “Elsen Inc.”
Around the same period in 2015, she joined the cryptocurrency industry.
Stepping Up the Career Ladder
She was appointed as “Director of Development” at a venture capital company in New York. From 2015 to 2018, she remained a founding member of the “Digital Currency Group”. In this short span of time, she also worked in many roles and gained insights into the blockchain industry. She worked as a corporate investor and as a vice president while investing in decentralized technology.
Around the same time, she helped some big brands like Coinbase and Ripple. Meltem left DCG in 2018 and founded her crypto fund “Athena Capital”. Through this entity, she diversified her portfolio and invested in Crypto, DeFi, AI, Capital Market, NFT, Data Services, Security, etc.
In the same year, she joined UK-based digital asset management firm “Coinshares.” She handled the New York City office as the Chief Strategy Officer. Later on, she became the head of “CoinShares Ventures,” a child company of Coinshares. In addition to all this, she’s a member of the World Economic Forum Blockchain Council and a partner at 3.0 Capital.
Contribution to Crypto Space
Meltem Demirors’ investment portfolio includes a large list of companies. Keen readers can find it on her official website: www.meltemdemirors.com. Besides promoting and investing in crypto, she also makes crypto education more accessible for everyone. Interested folks can kickstart their journey with her free self-paced micro-course on Skillshare.
The course is titled “Demystifying Cryptocurrency: Understanding Bitcoin and Beyond.” Learners can also find paid intensive programs that offer advanced levels of learning. Furthermore, Meltem co-hosts a weekly podcast called “What Grinds My Gears”. The show talks about the major happenings in the crypto and blockchain space. All its episodes are available on iTunes.
Being a renowned personality in the crypto industry, she’s often a guest speaker at major events. At AraCon 2019, she delivered the keynote speech which was titled “Power by Proxy: The Case for Crypto Cartels.” Between 2014 to 2019, she appeared as a speaker at various global crypto events.
Parting Thoughts
Meltem Demirors shared her thoughts on the crypto space and its evolution on various occasions. She also expressed her thoughts on the impact of traditional markets on the rising DeFi sphere. Her views and insights help many investors make up their minds about their investments. Also, her contribution to the progress of the industry is notable. Her thousands of admirers hope that Demirors’ role in crypto evolution will become more prominent.
Anurag is working as a fundamental writer for The Coin Republic since 2021. He likes to exercise his curious muscles and research deep into a topic. Though he covers various aspects of the crypto industry, he is quite passionate about the Web3, NFTs, Gaming, and Metaverse, and envisions them as the future of the (digital) economy. A reader & writer at heart, he calls himself an “average guitar player” and a fun footballer.
