Even as the US government is moving cautiously to regulate and adopt cryptocurrency, new surveys are showing that the use of traditional financial services, such as bank accounts and cash, is already waning — especially among younger customers.
A survey released last week by global payment platform provider Thunes shed light on the shopping, social media, and money-handling habits of so-called “Zoomers” — the Gen Z generation born in the mid- to late-1990s.
The survey of people between the ages of 16 and 24 living in 13 developed and emerging countries found that Gen Zs are embracing new types of money management tools and have relatively little enthusiasm for traditional options such as bank accounts. (In fact, 62% of the respondents said they do not have one.) Mobile wallet use, by contrast, is growing fast; in some markets, almost half of Zoomers now have a mobile wallet.
The Thunes survey found mobile wallets or virtual wallets are gaining ground: in five of the 13 countries where the survey was done, mobile wallets were the most popular payment method. (Mobile wallets store information from a credit card, a debit card, coupons, and loyalty cards on a mobile device; they’re also a critical storage component of cryptocurrency and stablecoins.)
And in a separate survey by 451 Research released March 31, 20% of respondents said they have either bought, traded, or received cryptocurrencies. The most robust adoption was among Gen Z/Zoomers (33%) and Millennials (35%), trailing off into the single digits for Baby Boomers and The Greatest Generation.
S&P Global Market Intelligence’s 451 ResearchHave you ever bought, traded or received any cryptocurrencies (e.g., Bitcoin, Dogecoin)?
The 451 Research report said more users have bought cryptocurrency as an investment tool than used it as a payment method.
“When exploring the specific activities that cryptocurrency participants have engaged in, the message is clear: While most…
