New Schwab Survey Shows Crypto No.1 Investment for Millennials

A new survey from asset management firm, Charles Schwab, has found surging interest in cryptocurrency-based exchange-traded funds (ETFs) among investors. The survey, titled ‘ETFs and Beyond 2024’ found that 45% of respondents plan to invest in crypto ETFs, up from 38% last year.

It also found that among millennial ETF investors, crypto-based ETFs were the preferred asset class, ahead of US equities ETFs and bonds/fixed-income ETFs. Interest in crypto ETFs was also found to decline with age: millennials had the most interest, followed by Gen Xers, with Boomers bringing up the rear.

Charles Schwab has conducted surveys on ETF investor behaviour for the past 10 years in collaboration with Logica Research. This latest instalment included 2,200 respondents in total: 1000 ETF investors; 1000 non-ETF investors; and an additional group of 200 investors who began investing after 2020 referred to as Generation Investor (Gen I). The survey was conducted between July 2 and July 20, 2024.

Sixty-two percent of millennials plan to buy crypto-based ETFs in the next year, making crypto ETFs far and away the most popular choice among millennial ETF investors (US equities-based ETFs came in second at 48%). Gen X ETF investors were less sure about crypto ETFs, with only 44% saying they plan to buy in the next year, while Boomers had little interest in crypto with only 15% planning to buy.

Overall, the survey found a surprisingly high 45% of all ETF investors plan to purchase crypto-based ETFs within the next 12 months, prompting Bloomberg’s Senior ETF analyst, Eric Balchunas to post on X / Twitter describing the result as “pretty stunning”:

Almost half of Schwab’s respondents said they plan to invest in crypto ETFs, more than bonds, international, alts. Pretty stunning.