Young, Wealthy People Are Interested in Investing in Cryptocurrencies, World Wealth Report Says

The popularity of cryptocurrencies has a particular hold on young millionaires. That is the conclusion of consulting firm Capgemini's World Wealth Report 2018, Cointelegraph reported.

The firm stated that it interviewed high-net-worth individuals (HNWI) and asset managers in various locations across the globe and saw an increased interest in this new industry. In the report, 27 percent of millionaires expressed a general attraction to cryptocurrencies, while 29 percent expressed high interest.

One of the factors driving this growth is cryptocurrency’s potential to produce a large return on investments. Indeed, a report from Boston College Carroll School of Management said that investors saw an 82 percent return of capital after the researchers leafed through 4,000 planned and launched initial coin offerings (ICOs). The report highlighted that those who saw the highest returns were investors who held on to their coins for more than 180 days, experiencing a 150 to 430 percent growth in their capital.

Capgemini’s report also found that investing in crypto is far more attractive to participants aged 40 and below at over 70 percent, while only 13 percent of respondents who were aged 60 and above showed interest. Moreover, these HNWIs who expressed interest in the market made a point of asking their primary asset managers for information on cryptocurrency. The asset managers, however, were hesitant to elaborate on the subject given the volatility, lack of regulation, and illicit activities that remain in the crypto sphere.

Interestingly, the report also found that there are varying degrees of interest among these HNWIs depending on their location. Japan, Europe, and North American respondents expressed a modest interest in cryptocurrency, while 60 percent of those hailing from South America expressed high levels of interest.

A similar trend was observed by German financial firm Postbank when it conducted a survey with 3,100 participants between February and March this year. However, the survey was limited to Germany and the respondents were average in terms of financial capacity.

Nevertheless, the survey showed that Germans aged 18 to 34 were interested in investing in some form of cryptocurrency. About 14 percent of this group were considering to invest in the next 12 months, while 6 percent of them had already invested.

The surveys indicate that the outlook of people on the crypto industry is unaffected by its poor performance in the global market this year. Whether this is because of lack of information or other factors remains unknown.