With potential profits to be made in cryptocurrencies, attitudes are shifting. Traditional investments and finance are taking a backseat amongst many who consider bitcoin a better investment. This is especially the case in a recent study done by a real estate developer in the UK who found that 27% of male millennials are more interested in bitcoin than property.
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Get Living London, the company that did the study, says this is partly due to the youth demographics that saw bitcoin as more attractive. When something triples in value in a few months, or even goes up by 10 times in value in a short period of time, that is sure to attract the attention of many. Property has a low rate of appreciation when compared to the high potential appreciation that bitcoin has already demonstrated.
"For Millennials the soaring performance of Bitcoin – followed by an almost equally profound correction – holds more intrigue than the prospect of steady growth in house prices."
It's not just real estate investments that are being overshadowed by bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, as other assets and investments are in disfavor among millennials. Blockchain Capital took a survey in November 2017 in the United States, showing a preference for bitcoin overs tocks and government bonds among 18 to 34-year-olds. They also found a 27% preference to own $1000 worth of bitcoin instead of stocks among both male and female millennials. Male millennials liked it the most, showing a 38% preference of bitcoin over stocks.
It seems that the millennials prefer cryptocurrencies because they have more awareness of this developing technology compared to other age brackets. The study showed that while 42% of millennials had heard of bitcoin, only 15% of adults over the age of 65 were aware of its existence.
The US-based The Student Loan Report released this past March, asked "have you ever used student loan money to invest in cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin?" This showed that more than a fifth (21.2%) of university students surveyed had taken their financial aid funds to invest in some of the top cryptocurrencies.
Cryptocurrency is so attractive that students are risking their education and futures on something that could pay off, or it could leave them with more debt. If someone bought bitcoin at a high point thinking it would go higher, right now they might be kicking themselves as they lost a large part of their investment. With more than 1.4 million university students who took on private loans to finance their education, many of them are going to be in greater debt in addition to interest rates that are set to rise.
This could backfire in the long term for future students who seek to get financial aid. With greater risks being imposed by this student behavior, lenders might start to impose greater restraint on who they lend to.
A similar move has already been done by various banks who found out that credit cards were being used to buy and invest in bitcoin and other cryptos which is something they didn't approve of. In February 2018, they banned the purchase of cryptocurrency through a credit card. Before the ban, 20% of bitcoin investors were using credit cards to make their purchases.
Many people would have never heard of cryptocurrency if they hadn't found their way to Steem/Steemit.com. Some people have likely seen the great potential in Steem and other cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, and have chosen to switch over from traditional investments and assets.
I wonder though, how many people have decided to do as some students have, and use money they don't have to buy into Steem or other cryptos? How many people have used money from loans to try to capitalize on the cryptocurrency mania? I understand using a credit card to buy crypto as a convenient electronic means, and then paying off the credit card debt with your bank account money. But there are probably some people that didn't have the money in their bank account, yet chose to get into debt and come out ahead by investing in cryptocurrency.
Thank you for your time and attention. Peace.
References:
- More Than a Quarter of U.K. Male Millennials Prefer Bitcoin to Real Estate: Survey
- MILLENNIAL LIVING IN 2018
- Students Increasingly Using Financial Aid for Purchasing Cryptocurrencies
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