A survey by youth marketing agency SEED found that young people are significantly less interested in cryptocurrency than commonly believed. It’s one of the few surveys that were neither purely focused on finance nor commissioned by a financial company.
Responses revealed that 66% of so-called ‘zoomers’ aged 18-24 are not interested in cryptocurrency, with 10% willing to try it but won’t prefer it over other investments. It canvassed 2,000 people during May, which was the depths of the crypto crash.
Women are even less interested in crypto, with three-quarters giving it a thumbs down. In contrast, half of men are willing to give it a try.
The situation for NFTs was even worse, with 70% believing non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are scams.
Some of the more detailed demographics provide additional insights. For example, a third of Londoners are more willing to speculate on cryptocurrencies versus 10% elsewhere.
Less than a quarter of students (or those with a degree) were willing to take a risk on NFTs as an investment. But for those who don’t study after high school, the figure was far higher at 43%.
But the NFT story is not all doom and gloom. The youth marketing agency did more detailed canvassing of its ‘network’ of 60+ people. Apparently, they all see NFTs becoming more important in the future. But at the moment, they’re not yet convinced. Given the amount of speculation that’s a pretty rational view.
On the other hand, could this rosier picture could be influenced by the fact they are in a marketing agency’s ‘network’? And for many agencies, NFTs are a business opportunity.
Meanwhile, a year ago the UK regulator, the FCA, estimated that UK cryptocurrency ownership was 2.3 million out of a 67 million population, of whom more than 80% are adults. In contrast, a survey on behalf of cryptocurrency exchange Gemini found that 18% of UK adults own cryptocurrencies. While the Gemini survey was at least six months later, that’s a massively different figure.
