A new study shows that approximately 67 percent of millennials think bitcoin is the ultimate “safe haven” asset, beating out gold and other precious metals.
Millennials Really Love Their Bitcoin
The digital currency first arose in 2008 during the time of the Great Recession. Many of today’s millennials likely spent part of their teen or pre-teen years watching the effects of this recession. They likely saw their parents get laid off their jobs despite years of loyal service. They might have even seen their parents lose the family home to foreclosure. When they got old enough, they might have even had difficulty landing work themselves.
To add insult to injury, while dealing with many of these problems, it’s probably safe to say that millennials also saw huge banks and major corporations getting bailed out quickly by government fat cats who had bribed their way to the top. This is arguably the big cliché that has emerged from the Great Recession, though it’s probably a bit more accurate than one would think.
As a result, many young generations have lost whatever faith they might have had in banks, traditional financial institutions and standard investing methods and now see crypto as the answer to all their problems and concerns.
Bitcoin works differently from banks and the currencies these institutions provide. For example, a standard bank will often have major say in who can gain access to its products and services. It will check a person’s debt ratio, their job and credit histories, and other factors when determining who will get to take advantage of its offerings.
Bitcoin, by contrast, is designed to give people more financial independence. Crypto doesn’t care who you are. It doesn’t care where you work, where you come from or anything like that. All it’s interested in is whether you have a digital wallet that will allow you to begin trading. Simple, no?
Millennials have taken this lack of scrutiny to heart and now see bitcoin as the world’s most promising hedge tool; something that can potentially keep one’s wealth steady and protected during times of economic strife… And the fact that it rose from less than $4,000 in mid-March to about $18,000 at press time doesn’t hurt either.
The Generation Is Becoming a Determining Factor
deVere CEO Nigel Green believes that millennials are becoming more and more important in investing environments. In a recent interview, he states:
Bitcoin has been around for little more than a decade, but already accounts for more than three percent of gold’s $9 trillion market cap. As the world continues to shift towards tech and as millennials become a more dominant part of the world economy, we should expect bitcoin to also take an increasingly influential role in financial markets, especially [with it’s potential of] being a ‘recession-proof asset.