Crypto Beats Stocks in Millennial Buying Plans, Schwab Finds

Millennials who already own crypto are the most enthusiastic buyers on the market, and their millennial buying plans put digital assets ahead of every traditional investment. Six in ten current cryptocurrency investors say they expect to add to their holdings over the next twelve months, according to Charles Schwab's Modern Wealth Survey — a larger share than owners of exchange-traded funds, stocks, bonds, or mutual funds plan for their own categories. It is the clearest sign yet that crypto has moved from a side bet to a core line item in younger investors' portfolios.

The generational split is sharp. A third of millennials now own cryptocurrency, compared with roughly a fifth of Gen Z respondents and fewer than one in ten baby boomers. Among millennial holders, nearly two-thirds say they will buy more in the coming year, which makes millennial buying plans the most crypto-forward of any generation the survey measured.

What is driving those millennial buying plans? Long-term growth potential and portfolio diversification top the list of reasons, cited by about one in three owners and the crypto-curious alike — ahead of hype, novelty, or fear of missing out.

Crypto tops the list of what investors plan to buy

No other asset class came close on buying intentions. Just over half of ETF owners plan to add to those positions, about half of stock owners say the same, and the shares fall further for bonds and mutual funds. The millennial buying plans revealed in the data flip the usual script: the newest asset class, not the oldest, is the one investors most want to increase. When millennial buying plans across an entire generation point the same direction, the signal gets harder to dismiss.

The enthusiasm extends beyond people who already hold coins. Roughly one in five Americans owns cryptocurrency today, and nearly half of all investors hold some. More than half of Americans who are familiar with crypto call it important or essential to building wealth, as reported by bitbo.io in its write-up of the survey, and more than two in five expect it to become a more popular investment.

From ETF wrappers to holding the coins directly

Perhaps the most telling shift in millennial buying plans is how investors want to own crypto, not just whether they do. Well over a third of Americans familiar with crypto already own or want to directly own well-known coins such as bitcoin and ethereum — a higher share than those interested in crypto-related stocks or crypto exchange-traded products and mutual funds. That marks a turn from last year's trend, when the story was all about gaining exposure through funds.

Joe Vietri, the brokerage's head of digital assets, said existing investors are "leaning in," with younger investors driving much of the momentum, according to the brokerage's announcement. He added that investors are thinking more holistically about what role crypto plays in their broader portfolios rather than treating it as a standalone bet. For Gen Z readers, the practical takeaway is that brokerages are responding: Schwab itself rolled out direct bitcoin trading for retail clients earlier this year, and the direct-ownership turn may be the most durable part of millennial buying plans, because it signals comfort with the asset itself rather than with a packaged product. Our Investing GenZ page has more coverage of how young investors are reshaping markets.

Plans are not purchases: read the fine print

Before rewriting anyone's portfolio, note the caveats. Skeptics would argue millennial buying plans reflect recency bias as much as conviction, and survey intentions are not transactions: the most bullish respondents are, by definition, people who already decided crypto belongs in their portfolios. The same survey found plenty of doubt, too. A majority of those familiar with crypto rate it high risk — the highest share of any investment measured — while close to half of non-owners cite scams or fraud as the top barrier. Not understanding how crypto works and a lack of regulation round out the leading worries.

Those barriers help explain the gap between awareness and ownership. Nine in ten Americans say they are familiar with cryptocurrency, yet actual ownership remains far below awareness. Bridging that gap — through clearer rules, simpler products, and better education — is the industry's real test. A separate survey of young investors across seven markets found them out-allocating their parents on crypto, which we covered here; the Schwab data adds the American piece and shows the intent is turning toward direct ownership.

The survey was conducted online by Logica Research over a roughly three-week stretch from late August to mid-September, among a nationally representative sample of two thousand Americans aged twenty-one to seventy-five, as summarized by Crypto Briefing. Millennial buying plans may keep leaning crypto — but whether those plans survive the next market wobble is the question the next survey will have to answer.