Nearly half of millennial millionaires, 47 per cent, have at
least a quarter of their wealth tied up in crypto, reports the CNBC Millionaire
Survey.
And more than a third of millennial millionaires have at
least half their money in digital currency, according to the survey of 750
investors with at least $1m in investible assets.
Observers say that the results of the survey show the
generational divide in wealth generation from cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin
and Ethereum, with older investors less likely to hold any.
Some 83 per cent of US millionaires have none of their
wealth in crypto, and only one in ten baby boomer millionaires has more than 10
per cent of their wealth in crypto, the survey found.
“The younger investors jumped on it early when it was not as
well known,” said George Walper, president of Spectrem Group, which conducted
the online survey with CNBC.
“The younger investors were more intellectually engaged with
the idea even though it was new. Older investors and the boomers were largely
saying ‘Is this legit?’”
And the wealth management industry could move from
traditional investments towards crypto in the future to attract younger
investors, he added.
“We’re already seeing the industry responding. We see more
and more providers offering access to crypto investing. It’s changing fast.”
The NFT craze in digital art and content investing, which
has grown during the pandemic, also saw a divide between younger and older
millionaires.
One-third of millionaires said that Non Fungible Tokens
(NFT) were an “overhyped fad”, while two-thirds of millennial millionaires said
they were “the next big thing”.
“NFTs have only recently started to be part of the media
coverage. So the older generations are further behind on the understanding,”
said Mr Walper.
Anyone born between 1981 and 1996 is part of the millennial
generation, according to US firm Pew Research.