$83 Trillion Baby Boomer Fortune Poised to Flood Crypto Markets, Galaxy Reports
The generational wealth transfer of the century is about to get digital.
The Great Wealth Migration
An $83 trillion inheritance tidal wave—currently held by the baby boomer generation—is now eyeing cryptocurrency markets as its next landing zone. Financial institutions are scrambling to build the on-ramps. This isn't just new money; it's old money with a new wallet address.
Portfolios Go Permissionless
Traditional wealth managers face an existential bypass. The report suggests aging portfolios are being re-allocated not by stodgy fund advisors, but by heirs and a new breed of digital-native fiduciaries. They're swapping bonds for blockchain—seeking the yield traditional finance forgot how to provide.
Institutional On-Ramps Multiply
Custody solutions, regulatory-compliant ETFs, and retirement account integrations are quietly being erected. The infrastructure build-out makes the 2017 bull run look like a sidewalk lemonade stand. Wall Street finally learned you can't fight a demographic tide—so it's selling shovels.
The Final Frontier for Adoption
This capital shift represents crypto's last major conquest of a traditional asset class. Once this wealth moves, the argument that digital assets are a 'niche' or 'fringe' investment evaporates. The market cap discussion changes from billions to trillions overnight.
Watch the flow. When financial advisors start recommending a 1% portfolio allocation to Bitcoin to octogenarians—that's the signal the old guard has surrendered. The ultimate irony? The generation that invented the 401(k) might just fund the disruption of the entire system it built. Talk about a retirement plot twist.
Massive Wealth Transfer Looms
UBS Global Wealth Report data reveals $83 trillion will transfer between generations over the next 20-25 years, with $9 trillion moving between spouses and $74 trillion passing to heirs.
The United States alone accounts for over $29 trillion of this transfer, followed by Brazil at $9 trillion and mainland China at $5.6 trillion.
Prince emphasized that wealth transfer patterns don’t strictly correlate with population size or GDP.
Italy, despite having half Japan’s population and 60% of its GDP, is projected to see higher inter-generational wealth transfers due to higher savings rates and home ownership among elderly citizens.
GalaxyOne is positioning itself to capitalize on this shift by targeting mass-affluent investors (roughly 20% of US households) that meet the $200,000 annual income or $1 million in net worth threshold.
“We think that that audience has some, you know, unique needs that aren’t well suited by the Robin Hoods and Coinbases of the world,” Prince stated, highlighting white-glove customer service and curated product offerings as key differentiators.
Retail Sentiment Diverges From Institutions
While Prince acknowledged bearish retail sentiment at year-end 2024, withdown roughly 10% despite strong performance from gold, silver, and stocks, he sees this as potentially bullish.
“Anytime you start to see that sentiment, the pattern matching that I’ve seen in my years in the industry is that it could be the beginning of a signal that it’s about to rip,” he said.
The sentiment gap between retail and institutional investors has widened considerably.
FINRA Foundation data shows crypto consideration among US investors dropped from 33% to 26% between 2021 and 2024, with 66% now viewing digital assets as extremely or very risky, up from 58%.
US crypto purchase interest falls to 26% from 33% in 2021 as investor risk appetite declines sharply, FINRA study shows.#US #Cryptohttps://t.co/4mTMJ49hLC
Meanwhile, institutional adoption has accelerated, with Morgan Stanley launching Bitcoin ETFs and traditional financial platforms expanding crypto access.
Prince attributed this divergence to gradual distribution channel openings.
“A lot of those channels are still closed. They MOVE slowly. The ETFs just came around last year. Some warehouses and other firms have a one-year lockdown on new ETFs being able to be made available to their clients,” he explained.
He expects institutional products to continue proliferating throughout 2025.
Young Investors Drive Adoption
Coinbase research found that 45% of younger US investors already own crypto, compared to just 18% of older generations, with younger cohorts allocating 25% of their portfolios to non-traditional assets (triple the 8% allocation among older investors).
Four in five younger adults believe crypto will play a significantly larger role in future financial systems.
South Korean data mirrors these trends, with over half of citizens aged 20-59 having crypto trading experience and 27% currently holding digital assets.
Over 10,000 Koreans hold $750K+ in crypto, led by young investors, despite being the smallest group.#Korean #Cryptohttps://t.co/uA561EaY8O
Current holders hold an average of 13 million won ($9,547) in cryptocurrency, representing 14% of their total financial assets.
GalaxyOne is launching products targeting this demographic shift, including corporate treasury solutions, crypto portfolio lines of credit, and staking services.
Prince revealed plans to combine crypto with traditional asset classes “in a way that I don’t think other platforms have done before” in the back half of 2025.
Looking forward, Prince concluded that “stablecoin adoption continues to increase rapidly” and that it might facilitate the largest wealth transfer in history, intersecting with a generation already committed to digital assets.
