Since the cancellation of SegWit2x, the cryptocurrency markets have enjoyed — or suffered, depending on your perspective — a roller coaster of a ride. Once on the brink of taking out $8,000, Bitcoin prices came crashing down to reality. Now that SegWit2x was out, the previously hardforked Bitcoin Cash was in.
Cryptocurrency proponents had multiple emotions, ranging from disbelief to elation to anxiety. I personally felt anger and disappointment; anger, because the wrangling ultimately sunk the collective market capitalization between Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash, and disappointment, because it all seemed so damn unnecessary. This so-called civil war was rapidly becoming everything that the blockchain movement stood against.
In the aftermath of Bitcoin Cash and its dramatic rise and partial fall (relative to where it was a month ago), real fears exist that the offshoot cryptocurrency will dilute Bitcoin’s market pool. However, I believe that the two digital tokens can co-exist, as I mentioned previously for Crush The Street. Bitcoin can remain the store of value, while Bitcoin Cash can be the practical, administrative version of the original blockchain.
But more so than their technical differences, the two virtual currencies can both eventually jump to $10,000 thanks to an overlooked factor: demographics.
Specifically, Gen Z holds the keys to the blockchain revolution’s continued growth and success. Currently, the oldest members of Gen Z are attending their first year of college or university. Within a five or six years, they will enter the workforce en masse, creating a new wave of cryptocurrency mania.
More so than any other demographic group, Gen Z has zero recollection of a time before digitalization. For most of them, their earliest memories are about iPhones and iPads, not the 14.4k modems that Millennials recall. Furthermore, their formative years occurred during the consumer-electronic sector’s transition from physical computing to cloud computing.
Thus, Gen Z is all about the cryptocurrency and the next phase of business and financial technologies. I highly doubt that a majority of this demographic would even consider traditional investing (ie. the stock market). They’re the children of technology, so an anachronistic move would be out of character.
At the same time, they’ll be entering into the workforce as the low man on the totem poll, just like everyone else. Their lack of financial means implies that they’ll eschew Bitcoin for more reasonably-priced digital tokens. Obviously, Ethereum is a good choice, and one that I also believe in. But Bitcoin Cash, thanks to its heritage, is a cryptocurrency that should attract young newcomers.
Since Bitcoin already flirted with $8,000, I believe that $10,000 is a foregone conclusion. But for the new generation of cryptocurrency investors who are tech-savvier than prior demographics, Bitcoin Cash makes the most sense.