Millennials and cryptocurrencies are a perfect match
Many have long assumed that millennials would be drawn to cryptocurrency. It’s relatively new, it’s built for the “online generation,” and most notably, it offers an investment option outside of the stock markets (which millennials famously don’t trust).
More recently though, these assumptions have been backed up by numbers and surveys. Last year for instance, an independent survey on millennials and crypto indicated that 66 per cent of millennials have more faith in cryptocurrency than the stock market. It also made clear that this isn’t blind trust, and that most millennials would even like to see cryptocurrency offered through traditional brokers — but the general point about trust is clear.
This fits the aforementioned assumption many have long held. But it also makes sense for a number of specific reasons.
First, as we suggested in the article on how millennials are embracing digital investing, members of this generation are partial to investments they can make through online or mobile apps. We actually pointed out in that piece that some 20 per cent of millennials in a survey indicated they had invested in cryptocurrency, compared to a national average of about three per cent. But a full third of millennials claimed to use online or mobile investing apps generally. This is not at all surprising, but it does set the stage for a natural attraction to cryptocurrency investment.
This is largely due to our second point, which is that crypto investments take place largely via the same types of mobile and online apps millennials indicate being comfortable with. One look at a post on where to trade cryptocurrencies outlines that there are some alternatives, such as CFD trading platforms. However, the post also states that those who want to trade cryptos as longer-term investments need to open exchanges and wallets. And this sort of activity occurs through intuitive websites, web applications, and apps that meet millennials on their own turf, so to speak (though cryptos can also be stored “offline” via hardware wallets or even paper wallets).
Finally, we should also point out that even those mobile and online apps millennials might be inclined to use for stock investment now tend to have crypto options built in. Back in early 2018, Robinhood embraced zero-fee cryptocurrency trading, and this proved to be the beginning of a trend among similar apps. Robinhood, for those who aren’t familiar with the name, is one of the preeminent low-fee investing apps that has served as a more millennial-friendly tool for stock trading. But from that point forward it also served as a go-to crypto trading tool — and almost certainly lured some existing millennial users away from stocks and toward cryptos.
Given these factors, the emerging millennial preference for cryptocurrency trading is perhaps even less surprising than it seems. It’s known that members of this generation by and large distrust the stock market and prefer app-based investment platforms. Cryptocurrency fits those preferences, and has even become visible on some of the few platforms younger people do trust for stock trading.
We wouldn’t be surprised to see an even greater proportion of millennials favouring crypto investment moving forward.