Gen Z 'nihilism' is fueling a $100 trillion crypto derivatives boom in response to a broken system

Finance Share Share this article Copy link X icon X (Twitter) LinkedIn Facebook Email Gen Z 'nihilism' is fueling a $100 trillion crypto derivatives boom in response to a broken system A significant increase in housing costs makes home ownership unattainable for many Gen Z individuals, leading to financial nihilism, said CoinFund's David Pakman. By Francisco Rodrigues | Edited by Sheldon Reback Feb 11, 2026, 6:06 p.m. Make us preferred on Google Coinfund Managing Partner David Pakman (Daniel Murray/Consensus modified by CoinDesk) What to know : Gen Z’s embrace of high-risk investments is a rational response to limited traditional wealth-building opportunities, such as affordable housing, CoinFund's Pakman said. The significant increase in housing costs compared with previous generations makes home ownership unattainable for many Gen Z individuals, leading to financial nihilism. With limited traditional options, Gen Z is turning to perpetual contracts, memecoins and other high-risk investments to build wealth. The surge in speculation driving prediction markets and leveraged bets on various sectors isn’t reckless, it’s rational, according to CoinFund managing partner David Pakman. In a presentation during Consensus Hong Kong , Pakman reframed the behavior as “economic nihilism ,” a calculated response by Gen Z to structural barriers in wealth building. STORY CONTINUES BELOW Don't miss another story. Subscribe to the Crypto Daybook Americas Newsletter today . See all newsletters Sign me up By signing up, you will receive emails about CoinDesk products and you agree to our terms & conditions and privacy policy . His case started with housing. For Gen X and Boomers, he said, the average home cost about 4.5 times their annual salary. For Gen Z, it’s closer to 7.5 times. That shift, Pakman argued, effectively shuts younger people out of the housing market, long considered the cornerstone of middle-class wealth. Only 13% of 25-year-olds own their homes, over half of Gen Z investors now own crypto, he said. With few traditional options, Pakman said younger generations are turning to high-risk bets, including memecoins, perpetual futures, zero-days-to-expiration options and prediction markets, not out of ignorance but as a strategy. “It's becoming actually rational to think that if the typical ways that long-term wealth creation is closed off to you, a small chance at a large return beats near certainty of slow decline,” he said. He pointed to crypto perpetual contracts. These products, futures contracts that don't expire, saw $100 trillion in notional volume last year, according to data he shared. Prediction markets also exploded, from $100 million to $44 billion in just three years. While some pundits use them for political forecasting, Pakman said 80% of the activity is sports betting. Dune data paints a similar picture, with $1.8 billion out of $2 billion in daily prediction-market volumes centered on sports at the beginning of the month. Pakman urged builders to meet it with better tools. “It's up to us in crypto to build products that allow the expression of risk in more transparent ways, that are more fair, have lower fees, and can be more transparent to both disclose risk and payout abilities,” he said. Consensus Hong Kong 2026 perpetual contracts CoinFund Gen Z More For You Ondo and Securitize execs say utility, not hype, will drive tokenization’s next phase By Helene Braun | Edited by Stephen Alpher 19 minutes ago Executives from both firms say the next phase of tokenization must prioritize functionality and compliance during a panel at Consensus in Hong Kong. What to know : Executives from Securitize and Ondo Finance say tokenization’s growth will depend less on hype and more on delivering clear, real-world uses for tokenized assets. While institutional interest is strong, Securitize’s Graham Ferguson says regulatory compliance and on-chain distribution via exchanges and DeFi protocols remain major bottlenecks. Ondo’s Min Lin argues that enabling tokenized Treasuries, stocks and ETFs to be used as margin collateral in DeFi shows how added utility and capital efficiency can drive the next phase of tokenization. Read full story Latest Crypto News Ondo and Securitize execs say utility, not hype, will drive tokenization’s next phase 19 minutes ago SEC's Paul Atkins grilled on crypto enforcement pull-back, including with Justin Sun, Tron 25 minutes ago JPMorgan bullish on crypto for rest of year as institutional flows set to drive recovery 32 minutes ago Why crypto VCs at Consensus Hong Kong are playing a 15-year game 1 hour ago Crypto Long & Short: Gen Z trusts code over bank promises 1 hour ago Institutional crypto platform BlockFills reportedly halts withdrawals, restricts trading 1 hour ago Top Stories Cryptos crumble, bitcoin falls through $66,000, as Friday's bounce fades 2 hours ago BlackRock takes first DeFi step, lists BUIDL on Uniswap as UNI jumps 25% 3 hours ago Analysts react as Robinhood slumps 10%, with slowdown in crypto trading weighing on results 3 hours ago U.S. added stronger than expected 130,000 jobs in January, with unemployment rate falling to 4.3% 4 hours ago Recapping day 1 of Consensus Hong Kong 5 hours ago Tokenization still at start of hype cycle, but needs more use cases, specialists say 7 hours ago