More and more Millennials own an investment product linked to Bitcoin in their investment portfolios compared to the Netflix title, according to a recent report by the mediation giant Charles Schwab.
The report, released last Wednesday, showed that Millennials (currently between the ages of 25 and 39) hold a larger stake in Grayscale's Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) investment product at 1,84% compared to Netflix's firm stock 1,58%. Schwab publishes this report every quarter and collects data from nearly 142.000 retirement plan participants who currently have balances of between $ 5.000 and $ 10 million in their Schwab personal retirement account.
GBTC is also more popular than the actions of Warren Buffett's conglomerate
The Digital Grayscale owned by Digital Currency Group launched GBTC in 2013 as a private placement for accredited investors and, in 2015, received approval from the financial sector regulatory authority (FINRA) to offer publicly traded shares.
GBTC is arguably the most successful cryptocurrency investment product, which saw a cumulative total influx of $ 304,4 million for the 12 months ending September. Once Grayscale also introduced a Bitcoin exchange product (ETF) in 2017, but later that year it withdrew its request as the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) rejected the Winklevoss Brothers bitcoin ETF.
To date, the SEC has not approved any Bitcoin ETF proposals, citing market manipulation issues and fraudulent activity. However, if the regulator approves one, GBTC and other Bitcoin investment products could lose traction, some market observers said last month.
Gen X and baby boomers?
In particular, GBTC is not among the top 10 equity holdings of Gen X (currently aged 40-54 years) and baby boomers (55-75 years). The top three equity holdings of both generations are Apple, Amazon and Berkshire Hathaway stocks, according to the Schwab report.
The average account balance for all participants in the third quarter of 2019 was $ 276.929, nearly identical to the $ 276.547 in the previous quarter and 1% higher than the average balance in the third quarter of 2018 ($ 275.362), according to the report. . Baby Boomers posted the highest sales with an average of $ 394.064, followed by Gen X at $ 213.018 and Millennial at $ 68.756.
Schwab is currently the largest investment brokerage firm in the United States with $ 3,2 trillion in managed assets. Just last month, the company announced that it is expected to acquire the cryptic rival TD Ameritrade for $ 26 billion. The deal is expected to close in the second half of 2020 and the combined entity will manage over $ 5 trillion in customer operations and serve 24 million customer accounts.
Schwab and TD Ameritrade have two very different approaches to the cryptocurrency market; the former does not yet allow any cryptocurrency services, while the latter offers the trading of bitcoin futures through the derivative giant CME Group and is also an investor in the exchange of ErisX cryptocurrencies.
