Irina Karagyaur

Co-founder & CEO BQ9; European Climate Pact Ambassador; Top 100 Women of the Future & Asia's 100 Women Power Leaders

Irina Karagyaur is a dynamic leader in the blockchain and Web3 space. Her involvement in various projects, including founding initiatives aimed at leveraging technology for social impact, as well as her roles in advocacy and education within the blockchain community, showcase her leadership and dynamic approach to addressing complex issues like energy transition and climate change through innovative technologies. 

Irina co-founded BQ9, a boutique advisory firm on a mission to turn great ideas into great Web3 products. BQ9 works on business model creation, product ideation and development & Ecosystem Strategy. She is also founder of Creators4Impact (the open knowledge community), creator and host of Creators Imagining the Future Community Dialogues.

Irina is an editor and expert contributor to ITU Focus Group on Metaverse (FG-MV), and a mentor for UN Women Mentorship Program. Irina is an active Polkadot Head Ambassador, creators of Energy Web X Global Leaders program & creator and a host of The Business Case for Polkadot podcast & DOT4Business community in partnership with Polkadot Blockchain Academy. 

Irina is named one of the Top 100 Women of the Future, the winner of the 2022 Rising Women in Crypto Power List by Wirex and The Cryptonomist, Asia's 100 Women Power Leaders, the winner of Women of Web3 Changemakers 2023 by Near Foundation, Top 20 Women Blockchain Leaders in 2023 by Whizlabs, LinkedIn Top Strategy & Metaverse Voice 2024.

Irina has delivered a TEDx talk "Knowledge Communities are Shaping the Metaverse" at TEDxMaviliSquare 2023.

Featured in Entrepreneur India, Arab Finance, CoinDesk, Cointelegraph, BeInCrypto, Financial Times, Harvard Business Review Turkey, GeckoCon by CoinGecko, Benzinga, NFT NYC and more. 

Delivered lectures and talks at COP26, COP27, COP28; UNESCO HQ, Politecnico di Milano, Queens College City University of New York, UCL, Glasgow University Engineering Technology Society.