Unlike previous generations born into periods of economic stability and
wealth, millennials came of age during the Great Recession – a global
financial downturn that caught many by surprise.

Millennials (born between 1981 and 1996) were, in a sense, hardest hit
by the Great Recession in 2008 as many of them had recently entered
or graduated from university – or were just finding their footing in
budding careers. The knock-on effect of the timing and severity of the
global financial downturn has been immense and trails most economies
to this day, despite having been officially declared ‘overʼ in 2014.

It is, perhaps, for this reason that millennials tend to view traditional
investments with suspicion and are increasingly smitten with
cryptocurrency. After witnessing the collapse of traditional financial
investment vehicles and economies during the recession, millennials
are justifiably skeptical of parking hard-earned money in stock markets.

In fact, according to recent polls, only 23% of millennials believe stocks
are a good investment, whereas previous generations such as baby
boomers and the so-called ‘silent generationʼ favored stock
investments by as much as 51%.

Why Millennials Favor Cryptocurrency Investments

Bank bailouts, backroom deals, failed currencies, unemployment, and
historyʼs most highly-educated but under-worked generation led to all
time high levels of dissatisfaction amongst millennials with status quo
economic contexts.

In Europe, particularly in southern countries like Portugal, Spain, Italy,
and Greece, entire towns seemed to simply drop off of the map while
unemployment rates peaked as high as 30%, with rates often much
higher in under 30 age groups. Confoundingly, despite the global
recession, the costs of living in most countries, particularly in the West,
have risen in recent years, putting millennials at a double disadvantage.

Despite substantial wage increase in recent years, living costs have
risen just as fast, if not faster, leading to debt and less accumulated
wealth then generations prior to or after millennials.

To compound the mistrust millennials have of traditional investment
markets such as stocks and real estate, theyʼre also old enough to
remember the dot-com bust of the early 2000ʼs.

Cryptocurrency, on the other hand, was created as a direct response to
mounting problems within traditional economic models. Satoshi
Nakamoto, Bitcoinʼs creator, addressed the worldʼs increasingly dire
financial situation in a rare blog post, stating:

The root problem with conventional currency is all the trust thatʼs
required to make it work. The central bank must be trusted not to
debase the currency, but the history of fiat currencies is full of
breaches of that trust. Banks must be trusted to hold our money and
transfer it electronically, but they lend it out in waves of credit
bubbles with barely a fraction in reserve. We have to trust them with
our privacy, trust them not to let identity thieves drain our
accounts…

In direct contrast to traditional investments, the investment in and
ownership of cryptocurrencies is direct, sovereign, and bypasses the
intermediaries typical of investments like index funds and ETFs.
Traditional funds have high barriers to entry and require placing trust in
the judgment of a fund manager whereas cryptocurrencies can be
bought at a marginal cost with nothing more than a bank account and
an internet connection.

The complex process of buying into traditional investments is a
relinquishing of control that independent, do-it-yourself millennials
distance themselves from.
Using decentralized cryptocurrency investment funds like MultiToken grants
exposure to cryptocurrency
markets autonomously as the investor also directly owns the assets
and can keep them in a personal cryptocurrency wallet.

As such, millennials are five times more likely to invest in bitcoin or
other cryptocurrencies than previous generations, and that number is
expected to continue climbing.

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