While cryptocurrency, and specifically Bitcoin, are largely distrusted by users of big banks, millennials favor this unconventional currency due to the freedom of the digital market.
Employees of Strategic Coin, a cryptocurrency research and advisory company, and other entrepreneurs discussed their optimism at the first Strategic Coin Summit at The New York Times building Thursday night.
Sam Fisher, 29, Director of Marketing at Strategic Coin, believes that the decentralized, global marketplace behind different forms of cryptocurrency is one of the industry’s greatest selling points.
“Cryptocurrency is a decentralized way that I can pay you. I don’t need a bank, I don’t need a credit card, I don’t need anybody. It is simply me paying you in a digital currency,” Fisher said.
Fisher attributes the recent growth of cryptocurrency to the independence of the industry. “[Millennials] are moving away from these traditional forms of old institutions and they’re moving towards new things,” Fisher said.
These new innovations include Bitcoin, which Kevin Jarquin, the Director of Sales at Strategic Coin, agreed is a convenient platform for transactions.
“The utility of the token is to send money from one person to another person on a big scale or on a small scale easily,” said Jarquin, 19, New York.
According to Fortune, a Bloomberg study reported that, “about 30% of millennials said they would prefer $1,000 worth of Bitcoin over $1,000 in government bonds or stocks…”
Cy Gowdie, Strategic Coin’s Director of Media, personally invests in Bitcoin over traditional stocks and bonds. He believes that Bitcoin is most attractive to a younger, more open-minded generation.
“It’s exciting and it’s fresh,” Gowdie, 19, New York, said. “A big reason why [it appeals to millennials] is the fact of it being so based in technology. It can be alienating to people who are not tech savvy or don’t necessarily trust these newer technologies.”
Bitcoin reports that “twice as many millennials own Bitcoin as the rest of the population (4% versus 2%)...” Only 8% of people over 65 find Bitcoin more trustworthy than traditional banks. In contrast, 27% of millennials trust Bitcoin over big banks.
Bloomberg’s survey also found that awareness of Bitcoin decreases within older demographics.
Responses from 2,000 people showed that about 40% of millennials are familiar with Bitcoin, while only 15% of those 65 and older know about this unconventional marketplace.
Despite the distrust and unawareness of Bitcoin found in older generations, Gowdie clarified that Strategic Coin markets to cryptocurrency and bank users alike to capture unlikely customers.
“While millennials are the future, conventional banks are still in control right now. It’s important to capture those who are in control now so that we can lay the foundations for cryptocurrency in the future,” Gowdie said.
As weary as many investors and entrepreneurs are about Bitcoin and the rest of the cryptocurrency world, it looks like millennials are willing to take the risk as part of a shift to a less regulated marketplace.
