Study: Demand For Crypto From Millennials Continuing to Rise Rapidly
According to a study conducted by Deidre Campbell, Global Chair of Financial Services at Edelman, reported by the New York Post, crypto still remains as a preferable long-term investment amongst millennial investors.
“Anyone that has crypto tells me they wish they bought it sooner,” said Campbell, whose study revealed that more than 25 percent of millennials are already using or holding digital assets.
30 percent of the respondents of the survey disclosed an interest in investigating and studying cryptocurrencies with the intent to invest in the short-term. That is more than 55 percent of millennials already invested or planning to invest in the emerging asset class.
Millennials Don’t Trust Banks
Mainly due to inefficient systems and outdated models that are not tailored to young investors, who already suffer from immense financial pressure from student loans after graduating college, several studies have found that millennials do not trust banks with their money.
In 2015, when the awareness of crypto by the mainstream was relatively low and alternatives to banking systems were not made familiar to millennials, a study conducted by Harvard University’s Institute of Politics discovered that only 14 percent of millennials believe the Wall Street “do the right thing” for customers.
Upon the release of the study, speaking to The Street, Recon Capital Partners CEO Kevin Kelly stated that the newly emerging trend could spell trouble for banks and financial institutions in Wall Street.
“This could definitely be a problem for Wall Street. We haven’t seen Wall Street change since the financial crisis. Every day, we’re starting to see headlines still: Wall Street does it again, another Wall Street faux pas,” Kelly explained.
Three years later, cashless alternatives such as fintech applications and crypto have become increasingly popular amongst millennials. In China, AliPay, the fintech platform of Alibaba valued at more than $150 billion, has started to account for more than 80 percent of all domestic online transactions.
In underbanked regions and areas with no practical banking systems, fintech applications have appealed to millions of users. In the Philippines, for instance, major banks like Union Bank require both residents and citizens to store more than $2,000 as a fixed balance in bank accounts, disallowing a fairly large portion of the country from utilizing banking services.
As such, remittance companies like Lhuiller and Palawan have become the main financial service providers of day-to-day users. The popularity of cryptocurrencies has also increased significantly, as digital assets allow users to send and receive payments with mobile phones without depending on banks.
Coins.ph, the largest cryptocurrency trading and remittance platform in the Philippines, secured more than 5 million users in the Philippines alone, with millions of users in Thailand and Malaysia actively using the service to send and receive cryptocurrencies.
“Customers use Coin.ph’s apps to access financial services such as cross-border remittances, purchasing digital currencies, topping up their beep stored value card, paying bills and buying ‘load’ (mobile promotional networks) – all without requiring a bank account,” CCN.com reported in June.
US, South Korea, and Japan
In major cryptocurrency markets like the US, South Korea, and Japan with established and fully compliant cryptocurrency exchanges, payment processors, and applications, the usage of cryptocurrencies by millennials is expected to surge rapidly.
The government of South Korea has recognized cryptocurrency exchanges as legitimate financial institutions and is leading initiatives to convince young talents to enter the blockchain industry.
Featured image from Shutterstock.
