Promises of easy money, rapid investment returns, all without extensive knowledge of the world of finance … In a few clicks on YouTube, dozens of videos of French influencers sell their millions of subscribers the promise of a financial jackpot at a lower cost, by investing in cryptoactifs. Sometimes presented as a game, where the chances of winning seem to be much more important than the risk of losing, the proposal seems to seduce more and more young – or even very young – investors. According to a study IPSOS for the Association for the Development of Digital Assets (Adan) and KPMG, published last March, 57 % of French people who have already held cryptoactives were under the age of 35 in early 2024 – an increase of 7 points since 2023.
The age group of 18-24 year olds even sees its representation double in a year, going from 12 % of holders in 2023 to 24 % in 2024. An interest far from being trivial for the consumption sociologist Patrice Duchemin, who sees it as an appetite of the young generations for the idea “of a financial eldorado”, accessible to all and “allowing to be enriched very quickly at lower cost”. Despite flaws and risks. Interview.
L’Express: According to the study of the Adan, 12 % of French people had cryptoactives in early 2024. The vast majority of them (57 %) were under 35, and 24 % were even aged 18 to 24. How do you explain, in your opinion, such an interest in the younger generations for these digital assets?
Patrice Duchemin: In my opinion, this interest must be replaced in a more global context: young people of generation Z [NDLR : nés entre 1997 et 2012] and part of the millennials [NDLR : nés entre 1981 et 1996] have grown up with social networks, and have bathed in a very specific mentality which is that of wanting to break the codes, reinvent the world of digital and use new technologies to invest easily and quickly in new markets – here, the financial market. To do this, the technological tools made available to them have never been so efficient, giving them the illusion that they can take ownership of a world – that of the bank -, previously reserved for a certain elite.
While dozens, even hundreds of tutorials are very easily accessible on YouTube or on social networks to teach them to invest in the crypto, and that influencers have even specialized in there, there is this idea that digital tools will allow them to have a more clever investment than previous generations. We place other than parents or grandparents, without having to leave home, without needing a lot of liquidity, without necessarily engaging in the long term, without specific expertise in the world of finance and without apparent effort, hoping for an extremely easy and rapid return on investment. We can also observe this relationship with immediacy in other phenomena that have seduced the youngest on the Internet, always promising to get rich quickly at a lower cost, such as dropshipping or speculation on certain brands of clothing on second -hand platforms, such as Vinted.
What is the weight of influencers and social networks in this attraction of the youngest for cryptoactives?
It is immense, since this appetite works largely on a share of dreams. Crypto is a bit of the youngest PMU: we fantasize with this investment as we fantasize with online sports betting, with the lottery, with mysteries carts or with lost packages, hoping to invest little to win a lot, with a part of chance. Influencers in crypto, often based in Dubai or in tax havens, who left for nothing and who lead the big life on social networks, obviously have a part of responsibility in this “dream machine”. While the previous generations gave themselves family pipes to win the third, influencers play this sometimes very superficial role of “financial advisers”, offering more or less wobbly investments. There is this very American notion of: “If you want, you can”, with this illusion of a financial eldorado accessible to all, which can obviously be very dangerous.
There has also been an important work of actors in the sector to credibility and popularize the world of cryptos, as we can see with this famous advertisement for a specialized platform featuring very popular stars in France like Antoine Dupont, for example – it is brand image. We say that if the captain of the French rugby team trusts a cryptocurrency platform and agrees to be the muse, it is that it is an honest market. This feeling is also reinforced by the fact that some luxury banks and brands are starting to accept cryptocurrency payments. Finally, we must not underestimate the impact of those around them in the investment of the youngest: we will often invest after having received the advice of a friend, the ‘good plan’ from a cousin, or after watching a video sent by a classmate … The youngest are rarely alone with their intuition when investing.
The Adan also indicates in its study that the highest proportion of cryptoactive holders in France is now in the slice of lower income households: 31 % of them earn less than 18,000 euros per month, compared to 22 % the previous year. How to analyze this new appetite for the most modest foci for cryptoactives?
In addition to the notion already mentioned of easy money and rapid investment, there is in my opinion a real principle of “social revenge” on the subject: twenty years ago, the young people who succeeded in finance were rather from the elite, good families, who made Sciences Po or HEC before leaving in London to find a post in a bank. With cryptocurrencies, there is this idea that there would be no more need for such financial and/or social comfort to invest, nor university degrees to understand how the world of Traders: This thus appeals to young people rather from peri -urban areas or priority neighborhoods, which see it as a way of trying, too, their luck in this world formerly perceived as very closed.
However, these investments do not always report, or even can prove harmful to young investors. Also according to the study of the Adan, 23 % of French people thus planned to acquire cryptocurrencies in early 2024, compared to 26 % in 2023, and 29 % in 2022 – A decrease of 6 points in three years, which could be explained according to the association “by the doubts aroused by bankruptcies and fraud” and “a macroeconomic context partly reducing available savings”.
For some young people, this notion of bet is just part of the game. It is exactly the same phenomenon as for online poker or sports betting: investors know very well that they can lose, but they also think that they can win. And it is this adrenaline that works. Today, this results in the enthusiasm for cryptos, who started from major cities or peri -urban areas and then drip in the more rural municipalities. Tomorrow it could be something else.
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