This time last year, I was five months pregnant and totally burnt out.

This year, Summer is seven months old and I'm brimming with creative possibilities.

2025 has been an endless list of changes: I had a baby (!), we launched our first dinner series, we had global leads step up to host events in Berlin, Accra, and Singapore, and we grew across every social channel.

Here's the thing about building anything–a family, a business, a community–you can’t do it all yourself. Leaning on others is a necessity.

And learning how to lean on others, ask for help, and trust that they'll pull through is its own kind of initiation.

There are people who always need help. And then there are people who are so self-reliant that they’ve forgotten how to let others step up. I've always been the latter. But there's this idea I keep coming back to: when you make requests of other people, you're giving them an opportunity to play a role in your grand vision.

So, what really changed this year?

This time last year, I'd just hired Ela, my Chief of Staff.

I immediately threw her into planning a major summit and prayed that everything would work out.

It didn't just work out. It excelled.

Out of the many changes this year, the one I want to celebrate most is hiring an incredible team: Ela, Stef (formerly SheFi), Naomi and Yirra.

The distance we’ve covered this year is thanks to you, the team.

Sometimes we think of teamwork as clockwork, i.e. everyone playing a clear role. When I worked at large companies like IBM, that was definitely the case. But working with a smaller team is more like an improv dance, which is exactly what I knew this year would be.

Last year, I had an insight while recovering from burnout: I was no longer fully in control. I had to relinquish control to my body and my baby.

Meaning I had to trust my team were the right people to join me in this improv dance, the kind of people who can groove to any beat, pick up any steps, and change styles halfway through a song.

While I was on maternity leave, it became clear they were the right people. At Permissionless, we hadn’t been able to secure enough sponsors to host a Summit. Instead of walking off stage, Ela kept dancing. She reached out to sponsors about organizing a dinner instead for executive women in crypto. It was a complete success. And suddenly we'd discovered a whole new offering we didn't know we had, one that we’ve repeated a few times that always gets rave reviews, extending our community offerings.

That's what improv looks like when it works. The original plan falls through, but something better emerges, because you have people who can dance with you.

In true Maggie style, I'm squeezing in one more major life transition before the year is up: packing up our New York apartment and moving to an entirely different state. Jon’s been using the phrase, “run, don’t walk”. Sometimes you need to move fast before the window closes.

And although we’ve moved fast this year at SheFi, thanks to my team, I haven’t been running.

I’ve been dancing, which means moving with beauty, grace, and trust.

Can’t wait to see where we dance together in 2026.

This Week in Crypto — SheFi Edition 🏇

This Week in Crypto: SheFi Edition 🪩

• 🪩Tempo testnet is live 💳️
  Tempo, Stripe’s payments-first blockchain, opened to the public. It brings dedicated payment lanes, stablecoin-native gas, and near-instant settlement — a major step toward real global payments happening onchain behind the scenes.

• Base ↔️ Solana bridge launches

  Base and Solana shipped a new bridge that unlocks fast, low-cost movement of assets between the two ecosystems. It’s a big interoperability win and the first real connective tissue between Coinbase’s L2 and Solana’s high-throughput world.

• Farcaster goes wallet-first 🔄

  Farcaster officially pivoted its product vision toward a wallet-centered experience. The team is prioritizing swaps, payments, and onchain identity as the core of user engagement rather than social feeds.

• Ethereum’s Fusaka upgrade goes live ⛓️

  Ethereum activated the Fusaka upgrade, improving rollup efficiency, lowering L2 costs, and pushing forward the modular roadmap. Another quiet but important step that strengthens Ethereum’s role as settlement layer.

• Market still choppy 📉

  Despite strong infra news, markets remain cautious. Liquidity is thin, rotation is selective, and traders are waiting for clearer macro signals.

✨ SheFi Takeaway: The loud stuff is muted, the foundational stuff is booming. Payments rails, chain-to-chain bridges, wallet UX, and core protocol upgrades are setting the stage for the next cycle. This is the moment to watch infrastructure, not vibes.

Decentraland Graduation and End of Year Party 💃

We have members from all over the world, but that won’t stop us from hosting an incredibly exciting celebration - inside Decentraland!

There will be a DJ, a speech from Maggie, graduation Wearables, and all of your fellow SheFi members having one big dance party. 🎉

Have Decentraland already downloaded to prepare!

SheFi Quests 📜

Completing quests is one of the best ways to make the most of your SheFi journey! You’ll receive a confirmation email once your quest is successfully submitted.

• Quest 1: Follow Our Sponsors

• Quest 2: Download Brave Browser

• Quest 3: Create Your Wallet with Base

• Quest 4: Create Your First Post on Base

• Quest 5: Join Decentraland

• Quest 6: Add Endaoment Mini App and Donate!

• Quest 7: Connect Your Brave Wallet to Brave Rewards

• Quest 8: Claim your SheFi ENS username

Celebrating SheFi Successes 🎉 

• Krystelle was nominated for BeInCrypto’s TOP 100 and Rising Women in Crypto 2025, and named one of the Most Inspirational Woman of Web3 & AI.

• Marie and Sharonda built a prototype for their menopause app, MenoBestie.

👉️ Share your wins so we can celebrate them 👈️

SheFi & Crypto Events 🌎

Going to ETHCC, Token2049 or Devcon? Join our Global Events Telegram Chat: https://t.me/shefisummit

SheFi Events:

• 12/12 Virtual: Investment Club with Gillian Muessig: Investment Club on Mighty Networks

Community Events:

• 12/1-31 Virtual: Mantle Global Hackathon: Register here

• 12/11 Abu Dhabi: SheRocks: RSVP here

  We’re bringing together the women driving the future of tech, Web3, and entrepreneurship. A networking soirée redefining what it means to connect.

• 12/12 Abu Dhabi: Beachpoint Mixer | Yas Island: RSVP here

• 12/13 San Francisco: Soup Presents: Chinese Peptide Rave: RSVP here

• 12/13 Torino: Build The Future Of Personal AI: RSVP here

• 12/17 Berlin: Christmas Party by Solana: RSVP here

• 12/18 Munchen: SheFi x TUM Blockchain Club – Christmas Party 🎄: RSVP here

• 12/18 Honolulu: EOY Party - Tropical Consensus: Closing the Epoch: RSVP here

• 12/20 Santa Catarina: FounderShip: Desbravando a Próxima Onda do Web3: RSVP here

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