Japan’s Gen Z fears crypto scams the most: young people are more vigilant, yet investment decisions are still dominated by YouTube personalities

Gate News message: A 2026 latest survey shows that Japan’s Gen Z demonstrates stronger risk-mitigation awareness in the cryptocurrency space, especially maintaining a high level of vigilance against social media scams. A survey conducted in February by Tokyo consulting firm Clabo of 1,486 respondents found clear differences between age groups in their understanding of and concerns about crypto assets.

From the overall data, 23.3% of respondents said that “not understanding how cryptocurrencies work” is their main worry; price volatility (21.1%) and scam risk (19.2%) follow. However, after breaking it down by subgroup, Gen Z lists “social platform fraud” as the top risk source, reflecting that it is more sensitive to tactics such as fake airdrops, phishing links, and token promotion schemes. This is closely related to its high-frequency use of social media.

By contrast, older groups are more focused on technical complexity, and lack of understanding of the underlying logic of blockchain is the main obstacle. Including users from the Japan bubble-economy generation, they are more likely to view crypto assets as a high-threshold product that is difficult to understand. Meanwhile, Millennials are the most active in terms of investment participation: they not only have a higher holding rate, but also more proactively seek market information.

In terms of investment penetration, about 50% of respondents have never come into contact with cryptocurrencies, only 33.7% say they currently hold assets, and another 15.7% have participated but have exited, indicating that the market is still in an education and awareness stage.

Regarding information sources, traditional news websites account for 38.4%, ranking first, followed by social media and YouTube. But in actual investment decision-making, YouTube—at 27%—becomes the most influential channel, highlighting the direct role of video content in driving user behavior.

The survey suggests that the core issue in Japan’s crypto market is not just trust, but differences in layered awareness. To increase user engagement in the future, it will be necessary to provide differentiated education and security guidance tailored to different age groups—especially in preventing scams and understanding foundational assets such as Bitcoin and Ethereum.