Children are more familiar with crypto than their parents, according to the latest T. Rowe Price survey, with 40% of children believing that crypto is the future of investing.

The 2022 Parents, Kids and Money survey, conducted by online market research firm Dynata, sampled more than 2,000 parents and their children ages 8 to 14.

57% of children surveyed said they were familiar with cryptocurrencies, compared to 47% of parents. Among parents who are familiar with cryptocurrency, 32% say that their children actively trade cryptocurrency more than they do.

When asked what they would do if they were given $100, 29% of children said they would invest it. Of those, 57% said they would invest in cryptocurrencies, while 38% said they would invest in traditional stocks.

Forty percent agree that “cryptocurrency is the future of investing,” the survey also found, though parents seem less convinced: 28% of parents surveyed said they invest in cryptocurrency. 53% of those who invested in or are familiar with the space worry that cryptocurrency is “a bubble that will burst”, and 52% fear that it is a “fad in the short term”.

Roger Young, director of thought leadership at T. Rowe Price, which had $1.54 trillion in assets under management as of Feb. 28, called cryptocurrencies “extremely volatile and speculative investments” in a statement, noting that investing in a diversified portfolio of stocks, bonds and cash is “a sound strategy.”

“It’s great to see kids getting interested in investing, but parents need to talk to their kids about the risks associated with investing in cryptocurrencies,” Young said. “Families investing money in cryptocurrencies need to do their research and be prepared for a wide range of possible outcomes.”

Given the size of digital asset markets, its impact on capital markets cannot be ignored, a spokesperson told Blockworks, noting that T. Rowe Price has analysts and investors closely watching the space. Crypto’s market cap is roughly $2.2 trillion, according to data compiled by Blockworks.

“We have studied the risk and return characteristics and portfolio implications of crypto, perceiving a wide range of possible outcomes,” the representative added. “The mandates we manage for clients today are not suitable for investing directly in digital assets, and we are aware of the high level of speculation and lack of regulatory clarity in this space.”

Meanwhile, other big asset managers are starting to get involved in the segment.

BlackRock, for example, which manages more than $7 trillion in assets, began allowing two of your mutual funds to allocate to bitcoin futures contracts in January 2021. The group of funds registered for an ETF in January that it would focus on blockchain technology, and its CEO, Larry Fink, recently said that the war in Ukraine Could Accelerate Digital Currency Adoption.

The publication of the survey follows that of Investopedia Financial Education Survey 2022which found that while cryptocurrency investing is popular among Gen Z, Millennial, and Gen X investors, 49% of Americans have only a basic understanding of digital currency.

Twenty-eight percent of millennials surveyed by Investopedia expect to use cryptocurrency to support themselves financially in retirement, while that figure was 20% and 17% for Gen X and Gen Z respondents, respectively.

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