Facing Up to Crypto’s Gen Z Stigma

The future of crypto lies in the hands of a generation that does not appreciate it. As a sophomore in college, I have witnessed this firsthand.

In theory, college students should be the most open to using consumer-facing applications with incentive structures. They are too old for their parents to cover their expenses but not old enough for a full-time job. However, they are skeptical of crypto products.

From my vantage point, the hesitation to use these applications stems from a lack of trust in the system, or that the incentives are simply too good to be true.

People believe this primarily because of the content they are consuming. In a world of Instagram and TikTok, crypto is losing a major information war. The majority of content on these platforms pertaining to crypto is disingenuous (at best) and malicious.

This content is popular because "sob stories" rack up views. People posting videos of how they got "rugged" on a memecoin or lost their money in a hack attracts 100x more views than posting about the benefits of crypto.

The mainstream media largely only references crypto when a crisis happens, like the FTX collapse. We see news talking about the collapse of a crypto exchange but do not see the stories of how Bitcoin saves people's lives in Latin America.

This selective media reporting, along with the malicious content on social media, is causing younger generations to feel apprehensive about the crypto industry and position their careers elsewhere.

We can solve this through education. Firstly, it is important to understand that you can't onboard someone by feeding them content their brain is hardwired to disagree with. This can be reversed by showing students the good that has originated from our industry and how it can benefit their daily lives. For example, it means showing people how to interact with Blackbird to earn free food, or Helium to be paid to have cell service.

We can also combat malicious content by producing our own that tells the other side of the story. While the majority of communication happens on Twitter and Telegram, Gen Z is relatively unused to these applications. To flip the script, we need to push out content on Instagram and other social media sites showing the good of crypto and the ways it is benefiting people across the world.

University blockchain clubs are playing an important role in this. Through workshops, onboarding sessions, and boot camps, these groups are arguably playing the most important role in ensuring the crypto industry does not die out.

At the University of Florida, where I go to school, Gator Blockchain provides access to Delphi Digital's research and brings in industry leaders to talk to members. At the University of Michigan, Michigan Blockchain has consistently delivered access for its members to exclusive events like the upcoming Midwest Blockchain Conference .

Sponsoring hackathons, research grants, or offering internships to students is crucial to developing talent and flipping the script that crypto is just criminal activity.

As an industry, we need to invest in future generations. While the crypto industry needs to ensure Gen Z goes on-chain, significant innovation will also stem from putting resources in the hands of hungry college kids. It is paramount that university clubs are funded so talent continues to be drawn towards building in crypto.

Outside of giving resources to university clubs, platforms that can benefit from onboarding Gen Z should make a push towards doing this. DePIN protocols will benefit from having more people using them, and there are millions of college kids who would be happy to earn some side money. Play-to-Earn games are always searching for more users. On the privacy side, Gen Z is considered the most privacy-concerned generation. Tools like BrightID allow people to securely own their digital identities, and decentralized VPNs like Orchid satisfy the need for internet freedom.

The idea of cryptocurrency aligns with Gen Z's desire for independence. We have built products that satisfy the wants of the younger generations; they just are unaware they exist. Respectfully, the only institution I see actively pushing to put people on-chain is Coinbase. This has to change — there are too many resources floating around the industry to not allocate a portion towards ensuring the younger generations love crypto.

Many people don't seem to believe this is make or break. We're approaching an inflection point — the technology exists, and we either find users or go down as trying to solve a problem people did not want solved.

College kids are the biggest opportunity to bring people on-chain. University clubs are in the best position to bring those people on-chain and thus should have the full support of the major networks and protocols that stand to benefit the most from people coming on-chain.

Note: The views expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of CoinDesk, Inc. or its owners and affiliates.