Survey: More than a quarter of U.S. millennials plan to use crypto to fund retirement

The percentage was marginally higher than those who said they would rather use savings and stocks to meet the same ends.

According to a recent survey published by Investopedia, 28% of the U.S. millennials polled said they expect to use cryptocurrency to support themselves in retirement — a figure that was higher than those who said they would use savings (25%) and stock investments (27%) to fund their retirement. Meanwhile, 20% of Gen X and 17% of Gen Z respondents said the same. The survey, conducted in the spirit of Financial Literacy Month, was administered to 4,000 U.S. adults ages 18 to 76.

In other fields, approximately 50% of respondents of all ages rated their financial knowledge in consumption, paying taxes, savings, debt management and insurance management as “advanced.” However, only 27% of those surveyed said that they understood a lot regarding cryptocurrencies, the lowest score among the eight concepts listed in the questionnaire.

Nevertheless, a significant portion of millennials (41%) said they had advanced knowledge of digital assets, followed by Gen X and Gen Z, at 30% and 29%, respectively, and finally, baby boomers at 8%.

According to the report, the younger the participants, the lower their expected median retirement age. While most unretired baby boomers plan to stop working at 68, most Gen Z surveyed wish to retire at 57. To combat financial illiteracy in the country, the U.S. Department of the Treasury has recently launched a new initiative to raise awareness of the risks involved in investing in digital assets.

This includes designing educational materials to inform the public how crypto assets operate and differ from traditional investments such as stocks. As told by Treasury officials, the main spearhead is to “raise awareness without trying to stamp out new technology and new innovation.”