A center is Japan has launched an intensive course for seniors and the middle-aged to assist them to learn and invest in cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin.com reports.
The center based in Tokyo, according to local media, is “Japan’s first virtual currency investment course for seniors”, with some of its students in their 80s.
In most countries around the world, it is millennials who are making crypto headlines. In a recent poll on cryptocurrency’s popularity reported by The Korea Times, statistics showed that 21.6% of the 2,511 participants were aware of cryptocurrencies with 29.4% and 40.3% among respondents in their 20s and 30s, respectively, but only 5.7% of those in their 60s and a tiny 2.2% of those in their 70s were actually aware of cryptocurrency.
Another study by Swiss fintech company Creologix concluded that most millennials, those born between 1981 and 1996, are not saving for retirement, but increasingly buying cryptocurrencies for their future financial security.
In Japan, the situation is bucking the global trend. Recently, Japan’s Consumer Affairs Agency (CAA) recorded that out of the 2,769 domestic inquiries it received on cryptocurrencies in 2017, most of the inquiries were from the 40s to 50s age group, although there was only a slightly lower percentage in other age groups. Some calls were even from parents with concerns for their teenage children using cryptocurrency.
The increasing interest in the space by seniors reflects these figures, and the new mature students are not simply concerned with their children’s or even their grandchildren’s welfare. There appears to be a growing interest amongst the age group to develop their knowledge for more practical purposes.
The new center’s website suggests that it “supports dissemination of the correct information and knowledge of virtual currencies”, adding that it has connections with overseas exchanges; its aim to promote “the sound development of the virtual currency industry”. It appears for this age group, investment of stocks is slowly being overtaken by cryptocurrency investment as a means to securing retirement. The center explains:
“…since 2017 virtual currencies became a topic in the news, and seniors who start investing [in] virtual currencies are increasing… we hold virtual currency seminars… and some participants in their 80s have participated.”
It added that the elderly are turning to cryptocurrency “for the future relief of family and grandchildren to eliminate anxiety about old age”.
The course teaches its students how to open an account at a crypto exchange, how to buy crypto with yen and how to store their assets in wallets and cold storage. They also learn how to make analysis using Twitter including “promising altcoin watching methods”, plus the tricks associated with diversifying their portfolios. Details regarding taxation round off their newly acquired skills.
Asia is the world’s cryptocurrency hub and as a result, learning centers, courses, and crypto educational establishments are on the rise, with Japan, Thailand and South Korea showing the way, reports Bitcoin.com. It may not be surprising to find such centers in Japan, but they are increasing in number. In November of last year, Japan, South Korea, and Vietnam accounted for 80% of global Bitcoin trading.
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