Galaxy Digital’s Zac Prince says demographic shifts and wealth transfers could funnel massive capital into crypto markets over the next two decades as younger generations inherit from Baby Boomers.
Speaking on The Milk Road Show, Prince pointed to demographic trends as a major tailwind for crypto adoption.
“The older people are going to pass away and pass the money down to younger people,” he explained, adding that younger investors show markedly different preferences than their parents’ generation.
Prince noted these investors are “much more familiar with platforms like the one that we have at GalaxyOne, where it’s kind of an app first. Multiple kinds of products in one place, really intuitive user interface versus the traditional, you have to pick up a phone and call your broker.“
Massive Wealth Transfer Looms
UBS Global Wealth Report data reveals $83 trillion will transfer between generations over the next 20-25 years, with $9 trillion moving between spouses and $74 trillion passing to heirs.
The United States alone accounts for over $29 trillion of this transfer, followed by Brazil at $9 trillion and mainland China at $5.6 trillion.
Source: UBS ReportPrince emphasized that wealth transfer patterns don’t strictly correlate with population size or GDP.
Italy, despite having half Japan’s population and 60% of its GDP, is projected to see higher inter-generational wealth transfers due to higher savings rates and home ownership among elderly citizens.
GalaxyOne is positioning itself to capitalize on this shift by targeting mass-affluent investors (roughly 20% of US households) that meet the $200,000 annual income or $1 million in net worth threshold.
“We think that that audience has some, you know, unique needs that aren’t well suited by the Robin Hoods and Coinbases of the world,” Prince stated, highlighting white-glove customer service and curated product offerings as key differentiators.
Retail Sentiment Diverges From Institutions
While Prince acknowledged bearish retail sentiment at year-end 2024, with Bitcoin down roughly 10% despite strong performance from gold, silver, and stocks, he sees this as potentially bullish.
“Anytime you start to see that sentiment, the pattern matching that I’ve seen in my years in the industry is that it could be the beginning of a signal that it’s about to rip,” he said.
The sentiment gap between retail and institutional investors has widened considerably.
FINRA Foundation data shows crypto consideration among US investors dropped from 33% to 26% between 2021 and 2024, with 66% now viewing digital assets as extremely or very risky, up from 58%.
Meanwhile, institutional adoption has accelerated, with Morgan Stanley launching Bitcoin ETFs and traditional financial platforms expanding crypto access.
Prince attributed this divergence to gradual distribution channel openings.
“A lot of those channels are still closed. They move slowly. The ETFs just came around last year. Some warehouses and other firms have a one-year lockdown on new ETFs being able to be made available to their clients,” he explained.
He expects institutional products to continue proliferating throughout 2025.
Young Investors Drive Adoption
Coinbase research found that 45% of younger US investors already own crypto, compared to just 18% of older generations, with younger cohorts allocating 25% of their portfolios to non-traditional assets (triple the 8% allocation among older investors).
Four in five younger adults believe crypto will play a significantly larger role in future financial systems.
South Korean data mirrors these trends, with over half of citizens aged 20-59 having crypto trading experience and 27% currently holding digital assets.
Current holders hold an average of 13 million won ($9,547) in cryptocurrency, representing 14% of their total financial assets.
GalaxyOne is launching products targeting this demographic shift, including corporate treasury solutions, crypto portfolio lines of credit, and staking services.
Prince revealed plans to combine crypto with traditional asset classes “in a way that I don’t think other platforms have done before” in the back half of 2025.
Looking forward, Prince concluded that “stablecoin adoption continues to increase rapidly” and that it might facilitate the largest wealth transfer in history, intersecting with a generation already committed to digital assets.
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