A new survey commissioned by eToro illustrates that millennials are more inclined to invest in cryptocurrency than their older peers, and when offered through a trusted financial institution those numbers increase even more.

A new study by eToro shows:

- 93% of millennials would invest more in crypto if offered by traditional fin. institutions

- 74% of crypto traders are interested in crypto option from their 401k provider.



J.P. Morgan recently became the first U.S. bank to create a digital coin. — eToro US (@eToroUS) February 20, 2019

Of the 1,000 respondents surveyed, “43 percent of Millennial online traders trust crypto exchanges more than the U.S. stock exchanges” vs. “77 percent of Gen X respondents trust stock exchanges more”. Then of the millennials that do not currently trade cryptocurrency, “71 percent said that they would if offered by a traditional institution”. Meanwhile, among all age groups that do not currently trade cryptocurrencies, “59 percent of respondents said they would invest more money in crypto if it were offered by a traditional financial institution”.

Guy Hirsch, Managing Director of eToro U.S. highlighted that the “generational shift in trust from traditional stock exchanges to crypto exchanges” is steaming from a “loss of trust” in the stock market and other traditional institutions. However, as the study showed and Hirsch continued, millennials still trust consumer-facing companies, such as TD Ameritrade, Fidelity, or Charles Schwab, since if these companies offered cryptocurrency assets then 93% of millennial crypto traders would invest.

“While both crypto enthusiasts and millennials alike seem to distrust monolithic institutions like traditional exchanges and the largest investment banks that play in them, there’s a great deal of demand from younger investors for offerings from firms that are more recognizable, aren’t perceived to be bad actors and have an infrastructure that can provide personalized and tailored advice.”

Disenfranchisement since the last recession

The last economic recession that started in 2007/08 left a particularly sour taste in many young adults since they witnessed the crony capitalism that can come into play to cause a recession and then exasperate the effects. As Hirsch also discussed, these millennials saw the Federal Reserve institute quantitative easing, which largely benefited bond holders, stock holders, and others high up in the financial network. Then their own governments used taxpayer money to bail out the largest banks in the name of “too big to fail”, where individuals ended up seeing little real benefits. Thus, many have lost faith in the institutions that previously helped create wealth and are seeking alternative investment vehicles where they can opt-out of the status quo and forge their own path free from corruption.

Nevertheless, as the study also shows, consumers still want to invest in cryptocurrencies via popular consumer friendly institutions. This motivation can be attributed to many reasons; a lack of cryptocurrency knowledge, lack of time and/or desire to manage their own investments, and/or other reasons. However, it also shows that consumers are looking for trusted parties to guide their investment options, especially in the new and unknown field of cryptocurrencies.

Dash community positioned to be a modern cryptocurrency guide

The Dash community understands that to achieve more adoption, there has to be an effort to educate consumers on what cryptocurrency is and how to use the technology in a consumer friendly way. This includes not just the code and structure of different coins so consumers know which cryptocurrency best fits their usage and investment strategy, but also safety since there are numerous reports of consumers not properly securing their coins, getting hacked, or simply losing their private keys. To manage these learning curves, the Dash network has funded numerous community outreach groups to help educate consumers, such as Dash Colombia, Dash Embassy D-A-CH, Dash Embassy Thailand, Dash Nigeria, Dash Help, and more.

It also needs to be highlighted that millennials factor in a distrust for corporate institutions as a reason for the appeal of cryptocurrencies. Thus, Dash needs to shed the common misconception of itself as “corporate coin” since, based on the study, this will not help increase Dash’s appeal among younger generations. The misconception arises from Dash’s Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) that enables it to more easily achieve consensus, fund its own development, and is comprised over around 5,000 masternodes, but to outsiders the DAO and Dash Core Group appears as a company structure even though it is not. To help flip this trend, Dash has also funded groups like Dash News and Dash Core Group PR team to give Dash a better online image.