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Cryptocurrency as a Christmas Gift? Gen Z Is Reconsidering
Original Title: Crypto for Christmas? Gen Z-ers Are Cautiously Open to the Idea.
Original Author: Kailyn Rhone, the New York Times
Translation: Peggy, BlockBeats
Editor's Note: In a world where Bitcoin and Ethereum have become cultural symbols, cryptocurrency is no longer just a speculative tool but is also packaged as a "gift for young people." However, under real economic pressure and market downturns, Gen Z's attitude toward crypto assets is far more complex than imagined.
This article, through the real experiences of multiple young people in their twenties, presents a divided and restrained mentality: they do not reject cryptocurrency and are even willing to "receive" it during the holidays. However, when it comes to personal asset allocation, they tend to prefer stable, predictable, and investment choices related to long-term life goals. For them, cryptocurrency symbolizes both an era of change and a reminder of coexisting risks and uncertainties.
The following is the original text:
Wyatt Johnson still remembers the scene in 2021 during the cryptocurrency frenzy, constantly refreshing his Coinbase app. He and his friends believed they were witnessing history, so Johnson decided to invest about $5000.
However, the result was not making money but rather watching the cryptocurrency he held—Solana—lose nearly half of its value in a few months.
22-year-old Wyatt Johnson experienced a loss as the price of his held cryptocurrency Solana was halved. Despite this, he is still willing to receive cryptocurrency as a gift for Christmas. Image Source: Jenn Ackerman/The New York Times
The 22-year-old Johnson has not invested in cryptocurrency since then, but he still follows the field, staying up to date with the latest developments. Despite not investing his own money again due to the recent downturn in the crypto market, he would not refuse if someone gifted him digital currency for Christmas.
"Money is democratizing in ways we've never seen before," says Johnson, who lives in Hustisford, Wisconsin. "Things are changing. I feel like it's important for our generation to keep up with these changes."
From a different perspective, cryptocurrency gifts are either akin to a scratch-off lottery ticket or a gift card with unlimited potential. Despite significant market volatility, some American young people, especially from Gen Z, still seem willing to unwrap gifts like Bitcoin or Ethereum this holiday season.
This does not mean that cryptocurrency tops many people's wish lists. As retailers, payment companies, and crypto platforms wrap digital assets into "holiday-friendly" gifts, a larger question emerges: Does Gen Z really want to receive cryptocurrency as a gift during the holiday season amid economic uncertainty?
Preliminary signs indicate a divide within Gen Z. Those in their early twenties, especially with investment experience, often hold a cautiously optimistic attitude — they may be open to cryptocurrency, but most would prefer support in savings, rent subsidies, or stocks and other stable, traditional assets. Johnson, for example, stated that rather than cryptocurrency, he would prefer gifts related to real estate or funds to support someone else's AI startup.
On the other hand, teenagers and young Gen Z members who are just starting to explore investing seem more enthusiastic. Financial experts believe this is likely because they have not yet experienced the full market ups and downs. According to a recent Visa report, about 45% of Gen Z individuals said they would be excited to receive cryptocurrency as a holiday gift.
"Gen Z is not afraid of volatility like older generations; what they are truly afraid of is stagnation," said Will Reeves, CEO of Bitcoin financial services company Fold. He added that traditional wealth accumulation paths like homeownership seem out of reach for young people, while Bitcoin gives a sense of easier accessibility.
22-year-old Russell Kai began exploring investing two years ago after being introduced to the stock market by a friend. He is open to cryptocurrency but prefers holding stocks instead. Image Source: Alana Paterson/The New York Times
Part of the appeal of crypto assets comes from cultural factors. Rick Maeda, a research assistant at algorithmic trading firm Presto Research, said Gen Z is the generation that witnessed Bitcoin and Ethereum's rise on social media. Even after experiencing a series of pullbacks, some young investors still see cryptocurrency's high volatility as normal, even inevitable.
For many young people, receiving a small amount of cryptocurrency is often the starting point into the world of investing. Research from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) and the CFA Institute shows that cryptocurrency is often the first asset young investors hold in their lifetime. The study found that close to one-fifth of Gen Z investors only hold cryptocurrency and non-fungible tokens (NFTs), or a combination of both; in contrast, Gen X investors mainly focus on traditional products like mutual funds.
But this open attitude is emerging at a rather complex time for the industry.
A year ago, the price of Bitcoin briefly surpassed $100,000. Against the backdrop of this milestone and the election of a pro-crypto president, many enthusiasts predicted that this 16-year-old cryptocurrency would rise to $250,000 by the end of the year.
However, these predictions did not come true.
After surging to around $126,000 in October, Bitcoin fell back to around $81,000 in late November, a drop of nearly 35%, almost wiping out all gains for the year. (Bitcoin has since rebounded, reaching nearly $95,000 on December 9.) Other major cryptocurrencies also fell, with Ethereum seeing a drop of nearly 40% since August.
This volatility is not just a problem for cryptocurrency itself, but a reflection of the broader economic environment, such as changing interest rate expectations and the impact of tariff policies. Against the backdrop of Gen Z facing widespread job difficulties, moving back in with parents to save money, or delaying key life milestones, they prefer to choose stable investments—those that will not "flip-flop" in the coming years, let alone see drastic changes in the next few months.
However, some Gen Z individuals see this year's decline as an opportunity rather than a warning sign. Stephen Kates, a financial analyst at consumer financial services company Bankrate, said that many young people are taking advantage of the price dip to invest in cryptocurrency. However, financial experts caution that cryptocurrency and lesser-known digital tokens carry higher risks and should only represent a small portion of a more diversified investment portfolio.
For Russell Kai, who resides in Vancouver, Canada, and majors in finance, cryptocurrency has always been the most chaotic part of the financial world—too much volatility and too little security. Two years ago, while still in university, he bought his first stock at a friend's urging, marking the beginning of his investment journey. Since then, he has adhered to one principle: choosing stable assets issued by governments rather than trendy, popular digital products.
At 22, Kai stated that if he were to receive cryptocurrency as a gift this year, he would not refuse it but would most likely sell it quickly and reinvest the cash into stocks he monitors daily.
The 24-year-old Clay Lute also expressed that he is open to receiving cryptocurrency gifts, but it is not a request he would proactively make. Living in Queens, New York, and working in the fashion industry, Lute believes that Bitcoin will recover from its current slump and eventually see growth in both value and utility. However, he does not believe in an era of "altcoin abundance," where hundreds of cryptocurrencies coexist in the long term.
"If I were to plan my own holiday wish list, putting money into my Roth IRA would obviously be more advantageous for my long-term future than betting on cryptocurrency," Lute said.
[Original Article Link]
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Before using Musk's "Western WeChat" X Chat, you need to understand these three questions
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No. The difference lies in where the keys are stored.
In Signal's end-to-end encryption, the keys never leave your device. X, the court, or any external party does not hold your keys. Signal's servers have nothing to decrypt your messages; even if they were subpoenaed, they could only provide registration timestamps and last connection times, as evidenced by past subpoena records.
X Chat uses the Juicebox protocol. This solution divides the key into three parts, each stored on three servers operated by X. When recovering the key with a PIN code, the system retrieves these three shards from X's servers and recombines them. No matter how complex the PIN code is, X is the actual custodian of the key, not the user.
This is the technical background of the "help page sentence": because the key is on X's servers, X has the ability to respond to legal processes without the user's knowledge. Signal does not have this capability, not because of policy, but because it simply does not have the key.
The following illustration compares the security mechanisms of Signal, WhatsApp, Telegram, and X Chat along six dimensions. X Chat is the only one of the four where the platform holds the key and the only one without Forward Secrecy.
The significance of Forward Secrecy is that even if a key is compromised at a certain point in time, historical messages cannot be decrypted because each message has a unique key. Signal's Double Ratchet protocol automatically updates the key after each message, a mechanism lacking in X Chat.
After analyzing the X Chat architecture in June 2025, Johns Hopkins University cryptology professor Matthew Green commented, "If we judge XChat as an end-to-end encryption scheme, this seems like a pretty game-over type of vulnerability." He later added, "I would not trust this any more than I trust current unencrypted DMs."
From a September 2025 TechCrunch report to being live in April 2026, this architecture saw no changes.
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As of the April 17 launch date, no independent third-party audit has been completed, there is no official code repository on GitHub, the App Store's privacy label reveals X Chat collects five or more categories of data including location, contact info, and search history, directly contradicting the marketing claim of "No Ads, No Trackers."
Not continuous monitoring, but a clear access point.
For every message on X Chat, users can long-press and select "Ask Grok." When this button is clicked, the message is delivered to Grok in plaintext, transitioning from encrypted to unencrypted at this stage.
This design is not a vulnerability but a feature. However, X Chat's privacy policy does not state whether this plaintext data will be used for Grok's model training or if Grok will store this conversation content. By actively clicking "Ask Grok," users are voluntarily removing the encryption protection of that message.
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WhatsApp's dominance in the global communication market is built on Android. Signal, with a monthly active user base of around 85 million, also relies mainly on privacy-conscious users in Android-dominant countries.
X Chat circumvented this battlefield, with two possible interpretations. One is technical debt; X Chat is built with Rust, and achieving cross-platform support is not easy, so prioritizing iOS may be an engineering constraint. The other is a strategic choice; with iOS holding a market share of nearly 55% in the U.S., X's core user base being in the U.S., prioritizing iOS means focusing on their core user base rather than engaging in direct competition with Android-dominated emerging markets and WhatsApp.
These two interpretations are not mutually exclusive, leading to the same result: X Chat's debut saw it willingly forfeit 73% of the global smartphone user base.
This matter has been described by some: X Chat, along with X Money and Grok, forms a trifecta creating a closed-loop data system parallel to the existing infrastructure, similar in concept to the WeChat ecosystem. This assessment is not new, but with X Chat's launch, it's worth revisiting the schematic.
X Chat generates communication metadata, including information on who is talking to whom, for how long, and how frequently. This data flows into X's identity system. Part of the message content goes through the Ask Grok feature and enters Grok's processing chain. Financial transactions are handled by X Money: external public testing was completed in March, opening to the public in April, enabling fiat peer-to-peer transfers via Visa Direct. A senior Fireblocks executive confirmed plans for cryptocurrency payments to go live by the end of the year, holding money transmitter licenses in over 40 U.S. states currently.
Every WeChat feature operates within China's regulatory framework. Musk's system operates within Western regulatory frameworks, but he also serves as the head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). This is not a WeChat replica; it is a reenactment of the same logic under different political conditions.
The difference is that WeChat has never explicitly claimed to be "end-to-end encrypted" on its main interface, whereas X Chat does. "End-to-end encryption" in user perception means that no one, not even the platform, can see your messages. X Chat's architectural design does not meet this user expectation, but it uses this term.
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