Gen Z is turning away from crypto, PYMNTS study suggests

It’s pretty much accepted wisdom, and backed up by many studies and surveys, that the youngest consumers know the most about crypto – and are the most likely to buy, hold and pay with it.

But that has been challenged by a pair of recent PYMNTS surveys that found that Gen Z not only enjoy making cryptocurrency payments significantly less than millennials and bridge millennials, but are also significantly more likely to have sold off crypto holdings in the past year, as prices collapsed into a crypto winter.

There are many reasons why this may be the case, starting with Gen Z having less disposable income.

However, it could also indicate that the youngest and most crypto-savvy consumers are having second thoughts about digital assets at a time when their value has cratered: Bitcoin went from around $20,000 in early 2021 to nearly $68,000 that November back to about 20,000 dollars. in June, where it has lingered.

Selling off

The most dramatic is the PYMNTS “Credit Union Innovation: Cryptocurrency As A Key To Member Loyalty” report, released in September.

See also: Credit Union Member Crypto Ownership Lags Other FIs, Still High

Among credit union members, nearly half of Gen Z respondents sold off their cryptocurrency assets in the past 12 months, with 22% currently holding digital assets out of 44% who held crypto assets in the past 12 months.

Compare that to millennials (43% of 52% still own digital assets) and bridge millennials (41% of 47%), and you’ll see a dramatic change.

While the numbers aren’t as dramatic for the broader non-credit union population — 35% of the 50% of Gen. Z crypto buyers still have their crypto – is still about a third reduction compared to about a quarter for the two millennial demographics.

That’s backed up by PYMNTS’ 2022 US Crypto Consumer report, which found that while just as many Gen Z consumers had a positive view of cryptocurrencies as millennials and bridge millennials, a slightly larger group held negative views.

Among the possible reasons for this is what the Pew Foundation calls their higher degree of personal responsibility for the need to take action on climate change – and Bitcoin and Ethereum both use country-sized amounts of electricity (although Ethereum is on the verge of changing that).

Read More: Ethereum Gets Closer to Eco-Friendly Version 2.0, But Next-Gen Scalability Still Delayed

Outnumbered fans

Another example came in PYMNTS recent report, “Paying with Cryptocurrency: Can Crypto at the Checkout Become a Profit Center for Merchants?”

In that survey, only 27% of Gen Z respondents said they are “very” or “extremely” likely to buy cryptocurrencies in the next year, compared to 37% who said they were “not likely” to the.

Among millennials, 42% were “very” or “extremely” likely, while only 20% were “not likely” to purchase digital assets.

Looking at bridge millennials, 38% were “very” or “extremely” likely, while 26% were “not likely” to purchase digital assets.

This means that the anti-crypto Gen Z audience was significantly smaller than the pro-crypto side, and significantly more than the millennial demographic.

For all PYMNTS crypto coverage, subscribe to the daily Crypto newsletter.

New PYMNTS study: How consumers use digital banks

A PYMNTS survey of 2,124 US consumers shows that while two-thirds of consumers have used FinTechs for some aspect of banking, only 9.3% call them their primary bank.