Why Millennials and Gen Z Are Attracted to Bitcoin

youth

Conor Maloney

April 13, 2019

It stands to reason that emerging tech like cryptocurrencies appeals to younger generations. Many millennials were just at around job-seeking age when the global recession caused mostly by corrupt banking practices struck in 2008, and fintech in general is a space that has seen success as an alternative to banks among the youth. Banks have long-been portrayed as an institution of trust and infallibility, but that’s a tough sell to anyone who grew up negatively affected by them.

However, it’s one thing to have a broad understanding that crypto and fintech is popular among the youth. Here are some hard facts that show the growing trend among millennials and gen z.

The Distrust of Banks Runs Deep

I wasn’t just spouting rhetoric about banks earlier – surveys show 27% of millennials actually trust Bitcoin more than banks, a pretty incredible figure when we consider the amount of fintech and crypto payment processing solutions developing crypto banking services right now as an alternative to traditional services.

42% of millennials describe themselves as “somewhat familiar” with Bitcoin, meaning that the figure of millennials who know what Bitcoin is and favor it over banks is much higher.

1 in 4 Millennials Prefer Bitcoin to Stocks

27% of those said that they would rather have $1,000 in BTC than stocks due to the greater potential upside, with that number even higher among male millennials. While only 4% of survey respondents actually owned digital assets, the insight into millennial mindsets regarding crypto was interesting – traditional mainstream finance may no longer be in vogue.

Millennials Support Fintech

Millennials grew up with technology, and they’re comfortable with it. As discussed above, they have little loyalty towards banks – 1 in 3 would switch banks if they saw better services being offered, 50% don’t think their bank offers anything that other banks don’t offer, and 70% would be interested in Amazon or Google offering financial services.

Generation Z Use P2P More Than Millennials

Generation Z, the group of people currently between the ages of 18 – 23, is even more interested in fintech services. A survey showed 79% said they use a digital payment service at least once each month, more on average than their millennial or gen x counterparts.

Generation Zers also pay more attention to price than older adults and exhibit less brand loyalty, simply going for the best bang for their buck every time. 80% of survey respondents said price was the most crucial factor when making a purchase while 50% said name brands are more expensive than private label brands.

The Youth Know Crypto Is Coming

The statistics above focus on different areas of the mindset of younger generations in terms of finance, and they all share the common theme that traditional finance has failed to maintain its appeal to the new waves of adults entering the world of finance.

Bitcoin awareness is on the rise, and of the people who hear about it, more and more are interested, painting a very bright future for cryptocurrencies indeed.