Millennials love crypto but so do Gen X and Baby boomers, says Kraken exec

Jeremy Welch, the chief product officer at cryptocurrency exchange Kraken says that it’s not just millennials who are most interested in crypto, noting that adoption is instead widespread even in the older generations.

Welch said this in an interview in which he shared his outlook of the crypto space going into 2022.

The comments come at a time when a new survey showed millennials loved cryptocurrencies and that more than three-quarters of millennial millionaires said they made their wealth in crypto and other blockchain projects.

Crypto adoption cuts across all age groups

Asked about Kraken’s plans and tools targeted at having more of the older generations enter the crypto space, Welch noted that it’s not just millennials. He said Kraken has seen “passionate” customers right across the age groups- from Gen X to Gen Z, and even baby boomers.

He also added that the interest does not just cut across the age groups, but across all backgrounds, with adoption registered from customers in over 170 countries.

Welch says there’s “a lot of excitement” for cryptocurrencies and Bitcoin (BTC), Shiba Inu (SHIB), and Dogecoin (DOGE). He also points to greater interest in staking amongst all these groups of investors, saying that Kraken recorded a 900% growth in staking among its customers.

Notably, Kraken has acquired the staking platform Staked in a deal worth an undisclosed amount the firm’s CPO noted he could comment about.

Bitcoin here to stay and NFTs was a big boon this year

Commenting on the broader crypto sector, he said the technology continues to grow and new use cases are coming up. He pointed to non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and decentralised identity as two of the newer use cases attracting a lot of attention.

He also noted that the financial system and new technologies such as NFTs and virtual worlds are all coming together in ways that are very exciting for not just the Gen Z and Gen Xers, but also for all types of artists and other users.

About the future of crypto, he believes Bitcoin’s decade-long growth and adoption means it’s here to stay.

Going back to the survey released last week by CNBC, the percentage of millennial millionaires who said they own crypto was 83%. 

Over 50% of millennials say they have half their money in crypto and plan to add to that. Interestingly, the survey report suggested that less than 25% of Gen X and even fewer (just 4%) of baby boomer millionaires reported having crypto investments.