Investing in cryptocurrency is quite the craze for millennials and Gen-Z investors. Most of the cryptocurrency buyers are Gen Z or Millennials (18-40 years old). But the surprising new trend is the fame and popularity cryptocurrency is gathering with the Gen Xers and Boomers.
Generation X is anyone born from 1965 to 1980. Baby boomers are those born between 1946 to 1964. Gen X buyers purchased an average of $9,611 crypto last year while Millennials bought $8,596 and Gen Zers bought $6,120. Thus, not only are Gen X crypto buyers outspending younger buyers but there’s also a correlation between increasing age and bigger spending on crypto.
The probable reasons for this are plenty and we shall explore some of them in this article.
Lucrative Dream of Achieving Financial Targets:
Gen Xers and Boomers are trying to find alternate ways of investing as traditional methods like banks and stocks have not been sufficient to achieve their financial targets before retirement. So, this lucrative dream of earning massive profits in a very short period has been attracting young and old investors alike.
Security Over Stability:
If there is one thing the Gen Xers and Boomers love more than stability, it is security. As cryptocurrency assures them this security with its blockchain base and decentralized systems that do not collapse at a single point of failure, they can afford to overlook the instability in the form of its price volatility and fluctuations.
The Democratic Way of Investing:
The next major reason is that this decentralized system of investment opens ways for people who are deprived of investing through traditional ways owing to the lack of necessary documents.
Many cryptocurrencies are decentralized networks based on blockchain technology—a distributed ledger enforced by a disparate network of computers. This creates a way for people of diverse backgrounds to multiply their money without the fear of imprisonment.
Negatives of this Investment:
All this said and done, cryptocurrency as well has its share of negatives to drive away Gen Xers. This includes high energy consumption for mining activities and uses in criminal activities.
The process of creating Bitcoin to spend or trade consumes around 91 terawatt-hours of electricity annually, more than is used by Finland, a nation of about 5.5 million. Also, cryptocurrency-based crime hit a new all-time high in 2021, with illicit addresses receiving $14 billion over the year, up from $7.8 billion in 2020. The environmentalists and patriotic Boomers might have reservations about investing for these reasons.
The main backbone of cryptocurrency is the trust on which it is built. With the older generation jumping on this bandwagon, the trust system is strengthening rapidly, and this might lead to a more stable cryptocurrency shortly.
