Gen Z and millennials are swapping cash for crypto

Hi I'm Hani,

I'm writing this newsletter while Lauren is taking some well-deserved time off, and as a result, today's newsletter will be a little different.

Since December last year, for our new recurring column Emotional Currency, I've been talking to young people who are changing their money habits: They're leaving full-time jobs, getting into the reselling business, or getting prenups.

I've highlighted three stories below. If you have money stories you'd like to share or any feedback, send an email to onthemoney@thomsonreuters.com.

Like most 30-year-olds, Kayla Trivieri uses her bank card anywhere it's accepted — from buying coffee to taking the subway to paying for dinner. While her spending seems ordinary, the money behind it is anything but: she's spending cryptocurrency.

"I used (crypto) Visa cards for literally anything that I would use a credit card for," says Trivieri, who works as a product lead for a blockchain and cryptocurrency company in New York City. She even uses the digital currency as a workaround for splitting flight tickets and Airbnbs with friends abroad when Venmo, which only works in the U.S., isn't an option.

The process is simple: Trivieri, who invests in cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and ethereum, uses a neobank (an online-only financial platform) that converts her crypto into a dollar‑pegged stablecoin (a digital coin whose value is on par with the U.S. dollar), allowing her to make payments as usual.

While roughly a quarter of Americans have tried using cryptocurrencies for purchases and investments, younger generations show far more enthusiasm: 42% of Gen Z respondents and 34% of millennials say they've used a stablecoin, according to a July survey of 2,000 Americans conducted by The Motley Fool

Read the full story here.

Scott Atkins, 22, an online reseller. Courtesy Scott Atkins/Handout via REUTERS

Scott Atkins, 22, was three years into a four-year design engineering paid work-and-study program at the University of Glasgow when he decided in April 2025 to drop out and pursue reselling clothes online full time. "My mum and dad thought it was insane," he says.

Atkins sells what he likes, from vintage Carhartt and Levi's jeans to Nike sweatshirts. He sources secondhand and vintage clothing from wholesalers in Britain, takes pictures of his products and then sells them on Vinted, an online marketplace that allows sellers to list products without added fees.

Atkins initially entered the reselling market in 2024 as a student to earn extra money to buy a car. Now based in Glasgow, Scotland, and reselling full time, he makes 10,000 pounds ($13,614) a month, generating a 7,000-pound ($9,551) profit — more than double the 2,500 pounds he was earning a month during his university apprenticeship — and his parents are on board.

Secondhand clothing makes up 32% of Gen Z's wardrobes, according to an October study by Boston Consulting Group and Vestiaire Collective, a global platform for buying and reselling luxury goods. The global reselling market is expected to reach up to $360 billion by 2030, with eight in 10 Gen Z respondents saying resale is a discovery channel for new brands.

Read the full story here.

Sam Steiber and Michael Ameel. Courtesy Michael Ameel and Sam Steiber/Handout via REUTERS

Before getting married last year, Chicago-based couple Michael Ameel and Sam Steiber, both 32, largely associated prenups with celebrity drama. They never expected to sign one themselves.

"It wasn't about anticipating divorce," Ameel says. "It was about alignment."

After dating for a couple of years, Ameel, a social media director, initiated the prenup conversation before their 2024 engagement. "I had built assets and paid off my student loans. It felt responsible to define how we protect what we each brought in," he says. Steiber, a social media strategist, says that although he hadn't really thought about prenups before, he was open to it. "It felt consistent with who (Ameel) was," he says. "He has always been really thoughtful about long-term planning."

Young couples are becoming more open to prenups, though they're still far from the norm. A quarter of Gen Z surveyed say they have signed a prenup, according to an April survey by Ally Bank, and 30% said they would consider it. Among Gen Z and millennials, men (37%) were more likely than women (27%) to say a prenup is important.

Read the full story here.

If you have a money story to share please do send it over to onthemoney@thomsonreuters.com. Follow our On the Money coverage.

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