The Future of Crypto
Those who have retired within previous decades, or even some who are currently looking to retire, have earned pension funds which allow them to transition out of the traditional working force. This is unfortunately not a reality for many working today. Recently though, experts have suggested that the future of and potential for cryptocurrencies could be this generation's supplement for pensions, re-affirming retirement as a viable alternative for working adults.
Ron Ginn, the young founder of Text Event Pics and investor in Ripple, et al real estate, said to The New York Times that “This is like getting to invest in the internet in the ’90s. I’m obviously very bullish, but I expect to make a couple million dollars off very little money. This is the opportunity of a lifetime. Finance is getting its internet.”
While cryptocurrency isn't a precise parallel to pension funds, it's still a very hopeful and promising investment. At the very least the consensus leans toward its eventual reliability. Nothing's carved in stone, but recent developments in financial technology have shown that palpable risk is correlated with significant gains.
Risky Money
Money has no value without trust, and this truth holds no less true for investment. Today, with pensions and 401(k)s growing rarer while memories of the recession of 2007-2009 still linger in the air, finding a realistic way to invest in a financially secure future (in the traditional sense) can seem like a lost cause. Consequently many see crypto investments as the safer alternative. Gabe Wax, who runs a recording studio in Brooklyn, told The New York Times, “I constantly feel like I’m looking over the edge. of a cliff [...] I don’t like the idea of money just sitting in a savings account — with the way inflation works and how low interest rates are, you’re losing money. There’s less money than there’s ever been in the history of recorded music, so that gives me anxiety. It’s weird to say that owning cryptocurrency soothes that anxiety, because it’s counterintuitive, but it does.”
As major players like Bitcoin and Ethereum compete against new-name giants like Bitcoin Cash, which advanced to third-biggest in market capitalization in its first 48 hours, the dawn of cyrptocurrency has become an inevitable reality. Looking around, its rapid global proliferation is apparent in everyday wearable technologies, which softens the distinction between financial and digital.
The days of stable, reliable pension funds may be on the proverbial endangered list. Alas, this generation's trust in the forces of globalization and traditional financial institutions may again be at low ebb. Consequently, while many in previous generations joined the workforce with implicit trust in traditional institutions, many younger investors will pivot to cryptocurrency. The future's never a certainty in economics, but we'd all be remiss to ignore this increasingly viable means for financial security.
Disclosure: Several members of the Futurism team, including the editors of this piece, are personal investors in a number of cryptocurrency markets. Their personal investment perspectives have no impact on editorial content.
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