The most underestimated factor

What good is the smartest law, the most diverse culture or the most advanced technology if society is not yet ready for it? This question, or rather the problem, can be applied to many social issues. In addition to socio-economic lines of conflict such as poor or rich, educated or uneducated, city or country, there is a line of conflict that primarily affects the establishment of crypto and which reads: young or old.

Better bitcoin than gold or life insurance

Whether you are open-minded about Bitcoin, NFTs or DeFi mainly depends on your age. Various surveys show that younger people, even young people, are much more open-minded and, above all, more natural about the crypto economy than older people.

One of those many Survey comes from the deVere Group, one of the world’s largest independent financial consultancies. According to this, more than 67 percent of Generation Y, also known as Millennials, would prefer Bitcoin to gold. Also owned according to that Alternative Investment Report by investment firm Alto Millennials, cryptocurrencies rather than life insurance. The American financial services provider Stilt even comes in his opinion poll to the result that 94 percent of all crypto owners are between 18 and 40 years old, i.e. belong to Generation Z or Millennials.

BTC-ECHO came to similar conclusions in a survey conducted with the help of opinion research institute Forsa – the results were published in the April issue of BTC-ECHO magazine. This leads to the thesis that the younger a person is, the higher the probability that they own or will own cryptocurrencies.

Learn from Nokia

The thesis that the future of the crypto economy lies in the hands of young people is also shown by the example of Nokia. The then market leader for mobile phones missed the switch to smartphones, i.e. touch screens.

One reason for Nokia’s strategic wrong decision, among other reasons such as arrogant management and a lack of software focus, is seen in product research, more precisely in product tests with test subjects in so-called focus groups. In order to find out whether touchscreens will be accepted by future customers, they were supposedly only tested by adult subjects. The result was that classic “push-to-press” keyboards were preferred over touchscreens. Nokia initially decided against the glass screen surfaces, the rest is history.

If, like many other companies, children and young people had also been included in the tests, the results would probably have been less pronounced for button cell phones. After all, younger people are often less afraid of contact with new technologies and are less influenced by outdated thought patterns.

NFTs and Bitcoin as natural as smartphone games

For a 50-year-old, owning an NFT or sending a bitcoin might feel special. A schoolchild today, on the other hand, does not have to cultivate that understanding first. The existence of NFTs or Bitcoin is self-evident because it has always existed for young people. On the contrary: a schoolchild who is already watching videos on his smartphone and playing games at the age of seven will not be able to understand why a bank transfer does not work in real time when everything can be sent in milliseconds via the Internet.

Older people in particular, who consider the crypto economy to be nonsense, are likely to be subject to the same thinking mistakes as the Nokia managers of the time. There is simply a lack of sufficient digital understanding that can not only be learned theoretically but also applied in practice.

Generation Z: Digital clothing is already taken for granted

Against this background, one can only guess how gigantic the NFT sector in particular is likely to become in the coming years. Many billions of US dollars are already being spent on so-called skins and in-game items. In the USA in particular, it is absolutely normal for young people to spend a significant part of their pocket money on exactly this. It can also be observed that buyers of digital objects are getting older and older. The gimmick becomes more and more serious.

It is not at all surprising that large clothing brands such as Nike or Adidas are also developing digital clothing. Nike’s CryptoKicks are the best example of where the journey is headed. Digital influencers like Lil Miquela are already on the move in the NFT sector, reaching millions of young people, mostly Gen Z.

Anyone who accepts that in the future, across all ages, our lives will increasingly take place in the digital world will also be able to get used to the idea that NFTs are the cornerstone of a digital economy. Against the background outlined, anyone who claims that NFTs are a passing trend and that digital clothing will not catch on will very likely be very wrong. Two main conclusions can be drawn from the outlined observations.

Have young people explain the investment opportunities of tomorrow

On the one hand, if you don’t belong to Generation Z yourself, you should look at what young people are doing. Instead of “hanging out” in telegram groups with colleagues of the same age, just talk to young people you know. Blockchain gaming, NFT lifestyle products and communities such as pop stars or influencers, e-sports, digital fashion, etc. are all growth sectors that are likely to continue to take off in the coming years and will initially be driven commercially by young people in particular.

The biggest wealth transfer of all time

In the coming years, many trillions of US dollars and euros will be transferred from one generation to the next. People of the baby boomer generation (1946 – 1964) will bequeath more capital or assets to their children, i.e. Generation X (1965 – 1980) and Generation Y (1981 – 1996) than ever before in history.

This is accompanied by a gigantic new allocation, which is likely to be in favor of digital assets. The digital-savvy heirs are likely to exchange money market paper, life insurance or gold for Bitcoin and other digital assets, among other things. This effect and the inflow of funds will not be noticeable in the next 24 months. In relation to the next decade, however, very well.

Of course, numerous other factors play into crypto establishment and market capitalization. But looking at the demographics, it can be said that the time factor plays into the hands of crypto enthusiasts.

The appeal to crypto start-ups

It should be noted at this point that these are trend statements. So there are very old people who are big Bitcoin fans and young people who don’t think much of Bitcoin and Co. The claim must therefore be to provide “crypto education” across generations.

Conversely, the demand can be derived from this that crypto start-ups in particular, where predominantly young people work, must not lose sight of the older generations. A diverse approach and a diverse offer are a basic requirement for establishing crypto on a broad scale.