With traditional paths to wealth closing and AI rapidly encroaching on white-collar jobs, the younger generation is being pushed onto a path with no future. Faced with low wages, high housing prices, and the influx of social media, patience and hard work seem insufficient for upward mobility. In this context, gambling has become a new outlet, a collective adaptation based on reality, giving rise to cryptocurrencies and prediction markets.
As many platforms emerge one after another, former hedge fund manager @systematicls published a long article titled " The Cage of Financial Mediocrity ," telling investors how to invest precisely from this super trend of "long-term decline."
The younger generation trapped in the middle-class cage: Why are the paths to upward mobility blocked?
Systematics began by saying, "A person doesn't necessarily have to be locked up to be considered imprisoned; a generation is dragging itself along in invisible shackles." The younger generation understands that stable employment and accumulating assets through investment are the basic paths to a good life, but they cannot imagine how to get to that destination.
He emphasized that stagnant wage growth, soaring housing prices, and mounting debt are the main reasons: " The traditional path to wealth accumulation has closed. It hasn't become more difficult; it has closed. "
When the post-war baby boomers, who make up 20% of the total population, hold about 50% of the nation's wealth, while the millennials, with the same population share, hold only about 10%, the very nature of this game has already collapsed.
He added, "The ladder to upward mobility has been removed, which is not necessarily something the baby boomers did intentionally; it's just that asset price inflation has benefited those who already own assets."
Why be patient when effort no longer brings rewards?
The old career promises have vanished: loyalty to a company guaranteed security, and stable employment ensured a worry-free retirement. Now, salary increases are lagging behind the cost of housing and living, and with the ever-growing threat of AI, the "slow and steady wins the race" of wealth to be shrewd seems less effective than previously thought.
When the system stops rewarding patience, people stop being patient.
Pull and Push: The pressure to survive has subsided, but AI and social media are putting the pressure on them.
To discuss why the world has become the way it is, we must first talk about several forces.
Firstly, in terms of appeal, the younger generation does indeed enjoy the wealth dividends earned by the previous generation through hard work, and no longer has to worry about basic survival needs.
Furthermore, in terms of driving forces, the evolution of AI technology is cutting off many future possibilities for young people. ChatGPT can produce better copy than newcomers, Midjourney can create designs superior to junior artists, and Claude and Cursor can write code that can be submitted for review directly. The demand for human resources in white-collar jobs is gradually disappearing.
At the same time, social media, through algorithms, repeatedly glorifies capitalism, showcasing an "unattainable" life of wealth, freedom, and success. This endless comparison amplifies anxiety and encourages the thought of giving up.
Billionaire players on Polymarket: Young people are regaining "control" in the gambling game.
Today, speculation has become an option that brings a sense of "self-control":
In the crypto market, prediction market, and sports betting, your beliefs, research, and judgment can all play a role and bring rewards. The important thing is that you can directly determine your outcome, rather than passively waiting for a promotion opportunity that may not even exist ten years from now.
This speculative wave is clearly visible in the data. As of November, Polymarket and Kalshi's cumulative monthly trading volume exceeded $10 billion, and their annual trading volume approached $40 billion. The annual revenue of the US sports betting industry has surged from $250 million in 2017 to $13.7 billion in 2024, with 76% of users being Generation Z.
How to invest in young people's anxieties? The "platform" is the long-term winner.
If there are mostly losers in a casino, then who are the real winners? The answer is clearly the "platform." This could be entrepreneurship, investment prediction markets, cryptocurrency infrastructure, gaming facility operators, social trading and communities, etc.
systematicls also pointed out that the key to investing in this generational trend is not to stay at the basic mindset of "buying Robinhood (HOOD) or Coinbase (COIN)," because large institutions have already priced these assets, making it difficult for retail investors to obtain excess returns.
The truly advantageous strategy is to diversify and invest in multiple products that are highly correlated with the speculative ecosystem:
- Bet on events related to "exchange trading volume growth" on Polymarket , such as "an exchange's trading volume will double next year" or "a DEX's new users break records."
Establish a presence in regional or emerging speculative platforms : Look for regional platforms or niche markets that have not yet been occupied by mainstream market funds.
- Participate in all tools and strategies that can profit from "increased trading volume," such as assisting a brokerage firm in artificially inflating trading volume.
These methods are closer to the platform's "real success" than buying platform tokens or stocks, since cryptocurrencies are often decoupled from fundamentals.
Believes in long-term speculation, understands and bets on socio-economic trends
Systematics emphasizes that the purpose of investing in this trend is not to glorify speculation, but rather to provide a proactive response to socioeconomic imbalances: "Understanding the current situation allows you to plan ahead and decide whether to participate. You should keep your eyes open to reality and bet where you have an advantage."
Casinos in every era " sell hope " amidst despair, and today's despair is global, traceable, and ever-growing, from which they continue to extract a cut.
This article, titled "Efforts Don't Yield a Future: How Can the Trapped Young Generation Turn Their Tide Through Long-Term Speculation and Long on Casinos?", first appeared on ABMedia ABMedia .
