As cryptocurrencies continue to decline, women are investing less while rethinking their position in the space.

Men are doing the exact opposite.

The percentage of male crypto owners in the U.S. has increased in the bear market from 22% in March of 2022 to 24% in May. Female ownership decreased over the same time period, according to a report out this month from Morning Consult.

Only 9% of U.S. women owned crypto in May of this year — down from a high of 15% in November of 2021. That 9% ownership figure marks the lowest share of women investing in crypto since Morning Consult started surveying U.S. households in June of last year. [Morning Consult did not provide ownership data for those who identify as non-binary.]

The response from female investors and Web3 creators to bear market conditions signals a continuation of a troubling trend. Cryptocurrency is now a mainstream form of investment, with a wide array of consumers adding it to their portfolios. A majority of crypto owners — 66% — see digital currency as a way to make money as well as diversify their assets and investments.

The total addressable market for Web3 — the next generation of the Internet that is backed by crypto and the blockchain — is projected to grow to $13 trillion by 2030, according to Citi.

Women stand to miss out on these financial gains once markets rebound.

"I don’t want to be asked about the price of crypto and what that means,” Sheila Warren, the CEO of the Crypto Council For Innovation said in a recent Twitter Space organized by BFF.  “I am in this for a much bigger reason.”

The “bigger reason” that Warren alluded to is the promise of the blockchain to disrupt not only our financial systems, but society more broadly. What often gets lost in the mainstream coverage of crypto is how the technology is progressing regardless of the market conditions, she explained. In conversations with policy makers and entrepreneurs, Warren says she has seen little to no indication that crypto is going away anytime soon.

Her observations are backed by data: There are more than 150 crypto exchange-traded products globally holding nearly $11 billion in assets under management, according to reporting by Axios, a figure that has only risen since the beginning of the year. And this week alone, $9 billion in new venture capital earmarked for crypto companies was announced, including $7 billion from Lightspeed Ventures.

Organizing panels with experts like Warren is just one way BFF is working to ensure women are realizing their potential in Web3. Since our launch in January, BFF has brought together our community to not only learn about emerging technologies, but participate in their financial rewards as well.

More than 50% of holders of our first two NFT collections — BFF Friendship Bracelets and the You Collection — are brand new to NFTs. And with those purchases, owners are now benefiting from the financial upside of investing in the blockchain.

Rather than think of the bear market as a time to recede entirely from crypto and Web3 adoption, many thought leaders in the space are encouraging early entrants to reframe how they are approaching the downturn.

It’s a “build market” not a “bear market.”

“It is a great opportunity to go slow in the beginning,” said BFF Co-Founder Jaime Schmidt in a recent workshop. “You don’t have the pressure to keep up with fast-moving market conditions. If you are able to power through this time, you are going to be really well positioned when the markets rebound.”

Julia Lipton, a founding BFF and the founder of early-stage Web3 investment fund Awesome People Ventures, told me recently that there may not be a better time than now to immerse yourself in Web3. Whether it is as an investor, entrepreneur or simply as a student, slower market conditions present opportunities to “buy the dip,” or get in on the ground floor of future innovation.

"A lot of the best products have been built in bear markets,” she said. “So in some sense, this is the best time to be learning because you're going to be exposed to a lot more things that have real value creation."

The optimism felt by Lipton and many others is also reflected in Morning Consult’s recent data. Over the course of 2022, Morning Consult’s index tracking consumer sentiment has a new series low, yet confidence among cryptocurrency owners has held up relatively much better.

This is a trend that BFF sees in its own data as well. Despite the market conditions, most respondents in a recent BFF survey said they remain committed to learning about and investing in Web3. Survey respondents also said that education is the single biggest thing that will help them advance their skills and investment in Web3.

The wider response by female investors to the decline in crypto markets is not new: Women are more risk averse than men on average, according to most research, making a pullback during volatile times make sense. But studies have shown that whether women are inclined to take risks depends on the context.

As a top resource for women and non-binary people looking to learn about Web3, BFF seeks to provide that context daily.

For more: Join our Discord community and follow us on Twitter.

This is not financial advice. If you don't want to spend money investing in crypto or Web3 — you don’t have to. The intent of this article is to help others educate themselves and learn.

Caroline Fairchild is Editor in Chief at BFF