Tuesday, Sep 7, 2021 was a day many crypto investors have long waited for. It was the day El Salvador officially became the first country to accept Bitcoin as legal tender. This is a small but significant first step toward cryptocurrencies, seeing widespread adoption. After El Salvador other countries will follow.
But there is a trend more important than El Salvador and one that’s more important than any single country’s recognition of crypto as official legal tender because Bitcoin, Dogecoin, Ethereum and other digital currencies are already being used for transactions.
Bitcoin is making the trek from early adopters to the early majority. And this is where investors need to pay attention. A 2020 survey found that 36% of small and medium enterprises were accepting Bitcoin and other cryptos. On top of that, 59% of those companies had purchased cryptocurrencies for their own use. 47% of the companies accepting cryptocurrencies had been around for only 5 years or less but only 21% of companies older than two decades accepting cryptocurrencies.
Major companies like AT&T, Burger King, KFC, Microsoft, Overstock, Pizza Hut, Subway and Virgin Galactic gladly accept Bitcoin and this list will just get longer.
That’s far more important than any country officially recognizing cryptocurrencies as official tender.
There’s also a very straightforward reason all of these companies are accepting cryptos. The fact is 49% of millennials own cryptocurrencies, as do 38% of Gen X and 13% of Gen Z. The only reason the Gen Z percentage is so small is because the oldest members of this generation are 24 years old.
But companies are realizing that more than 50% of these younger generations are likely to purchase products and services with cryptocurrencies. The percentage of baby boomers who own cryptocurrencies is in the low single digits.
This is the real generational divide, and it’s why so many have a hard time seeing what’s unfolding. Cryptos are developing into being mainstream and they already have among certain generations. This is no longer an innovation on the fringes. That’s what makes cryptocurrencies such an attractive investment for years to come.
Sven Franssen