The housing crisis pushes American youth into the cryptocurrency gamble.

A new study shows that more and more young people in America are turning to cryptocurrency as a financial gamble, stemming from despair over soaring house prices. The ratio of house prices to income has risen to the sky since the 1980s, causing the younger generation to lose nearly two years of income to buy a home equivalent to that of their parents. As homeownership becomes increasingly out of reach, young people are shifting from saving to high-risk investment.

The report refers to this group as “discouraged renters” — those who abandon the goal of homeownership and change their long-term financial behavior, spending more on credit cards and easily falling into a state of “quiet quitting.” Cryptocurrency has become the “last leverage” for those with assets of $50,000–$300,000, but in the long run, they are likely to fall into a near-zero asset trap.

This trend is also seen in South Korea and Japan, where house prices rise to the sky and the cryptocurrency community is rapidly growing.