A big chunk of wealthy American millennials have either warmed up to cryptocurrencies or are considering embracing them, reveals a recent report.
Millennials with Money, a report by Edelman has found that 25% of American millennials, aged between 24 and 38, and earning $100,000 in individual or joint income, or owning $50,000 in investable assets, are either holding or using cryptocurrencies. Also, another 31% are interested in using cryptocurrencies.
Financial System Designed to Favour the Rich and Powerful, Say Millennials
The millennials today are not too happy with the existing financial system, highlights the report.
Of, the 1,000 surveyed, 77% of affluent millennials and 65% of non-affluent millennials are of the opinion that the whole financial system is designed to be favourably biased towards the rich and powerful at the expense of ordinary people like them.
Three-quarters of affluent millennials fear that the global financial system will be hacked and their personal information will be stolen. Whereas, 58% of non-affluent millennials have the same opinion about the security of the global financial system. A whopping 77% of affluent millennials and 58% of non-affluent millennials also expecting another global financial crisis in the future.
The figures are not shocking for those she speaks with, said Deidre Campbell, Edelman’s Global Chair of Financial Services. In fact, millennials with crypto regret not having bought it earlier, she reveals, reports Yahoo! Finance.
With a significant majority of affluent and non-affluent millennials distrustful of the existing financial system, it is no wonder that cryptocurrency adoption has soared in the last few years. In fact, Bitcoin is believed to have been invented as a refuge from events like the economic crisis of 2008 when several large banks and financial institutions of the world failed.
Even at present, countries like Argentina and Venezuela are struggling with high inflation rates, which are driving their citizens to choose cryptocurrency over their fiat currency.
According to the report by Edelman, 74% of the respondents feel that technological innovations like blockchain contribute to enhancing the security of the global financial system.
Crypto Gaining Ground in the US
Cryptocurrency support across the world is increasing rapidly, as can be inferred from the fact that the number of blockchain wallets in the world had crossed 28 million at the end of September 2018. The citizens of the U.S. have been particularly active in embracing crypto and pushing for making it a part of the mainstream financial system.
In a recent poll conducted by the IT firm Clovr, it was found that 60 percent of eligible voters in the U.S. want cryptocurrency donations in federal elections to be legalized. Coinbase, a leading cryptocurrency platform has obtained a license as an independent Qualified Custodian by the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS), which shows that there is a demand for crypto infrastructure from institutional investors.
Wall Street giants Fidelity and Goldman Sachs also recently entered the market with their custody solutions. Boston-based Fidelity Investments has established Fidelity Digital Asset Services (FDAS), a subsidiary focused on offering products pertaining to digital assets such as Bitcoin and Ethereum. Goldman Sachs has partnered with Galaxy Digital to invest $15 million collectively in BitGo, a cryptocurrency custody startup based in Palo Alto.
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