Gen Zs wanna be millionaires, so freakin’ bad.
And to buy all the things they never had, they’re jumping into crypto.
It’s just that for many young people, it’s their first time. This means there are unrealistic expectations of how cryptocurrency investing works – just look at how cryptos like Bitcoin have exploded since the start of the pandemic only to recently dramatically drop.
It’s easy to jump on the bandwagon with all the success stories out there.
Have you seen the sexy headlines? 20-Year-Old Worth $4.5 Million After Buying $1000 in Bitcoin, How Four Ordinary People Got Rich From Crypto, Inside The Lavish Life Of A Teenage Crypto Millionaire…
But more and more, the horror stories are surfacing too. Online wallets are getting hacked, investments are funnelling into phoney digital coins, life savings are emptied through gambling addictions, and the volatility of the game means you can be making a million and losing a million, just like that.
Recent research of ours found 12% of 15 to 24 year olds had owned cryptocurrency and an extra 32% were interested in buying it. This is why it’s important for Gen Zs to fully understand the risks of investing into crypto. In an article for The Guardian, Sirin Kale covers this well:
- Not seeing enough of the darker side – People brag about making money and show off their lavish lifestyles, and it’s not as often that people would talk about losing money because of guilt and shame. This adds to those unrealistic expectations of getting rich quick.
- Fuelling addictive behaviour – Up and down and up and down, crypto goes. Dangerously, the “winning stage” releases endorphins and “acts as an emotional trigger”. Here, young people may dream bigger, invest bigger, and before you know it, get into bigger debt.
- Not being properly informed – Where are young people getting news and investment advice from? The wild west of social media. From TikTok influencers to Reddit threads and pay-to-enter Discord groups, how do you really know when someone is knowledgeable and well-intentioned?
- The rise of scammers – It’s a mostly unregulated playground that calls for theft, fake apps, fake coins, and fake gurus like those who make money from selling courses, rather than investing in the market itself. Plus, a whole web of schemes, like pump-and-dump, that experienced investors use to take advantage of the less experienced.
The moral of the story? Play safe.
