OKX Survey Finds 19% of European Crypto Investors Rank Crypto Above Retirement Plans

19% Pick Crypto for Lasting Wealth

European crypto investors now associate digital assets with long-term wealth more strongly than pension vehicles, according to research published Thursday by crypto exchange OKX. Pollfish conducted the fieldwork between October 14 and 18, surveying 1,932 adults aged 18 to 88 who have previously invested in cryptocurrencies across the United States, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Poland; the total pools responses from all five countries. Among European respondents, 19% named crypto as the asset most associated with building lasting wealth, while 8% chose retirement plans, an 11-point gap in favor of digital assets. Real estate led overall, chosen by 34% of respondents across all five countries as the asset most tied to lasting wealth. Generation Z put crypto first among individual asset choices, with nearly one-quarter selecting it, and roughly one-third of all participants described crypto wealth as just as legitimate as wealth built through stocks or property. The published findings note that the sample covers people with prior crypto experience only, so the results describe that group rather than the general adult population. The questionnaire also measured association, not allocation: it recorded neither how much respondents hold in digital assets nor what they pay into pensions.

US Respondents Prefer Retirement Accounts

American responses flipped the ranking. Retirement accounts drew 21% of US answers against 12% for crypto, a nine-point preference for pension vehicles. Intent to add exposure ran high on both sides of the Atlantic: 51% of all respondents expect to increase their crypto allocation within five years, about 34% expect to hold steady, and 13% anticipate reducing or exiting. In Europe, 47% intend to raise their crypto wallet holdings, 13% of them by a substantial amount, while US respondents were stronger still, with 55% expecting higher allocations and 22% planning a major increase. Age drove the divide. Nearly two-thirds of respondents under 45 expect to invest more, and more than 80% consider digital assets at least somewhat important for building wealth across generations. Erald Ghoos, chief executive of OKX Europe, said that when investors under 45 on both sides of the Atlantic treat crypto as part of long-term wealth, it shows crypto has entered how people view their finances, and he expects its role to grow as that cohort ages and accumulates capital. Baby boomers push back: 55% of surveyed boomers called crypto unimportant for generational wealth, including 65% of US boomers and 44% of European boomers.

Department of Labor Proposal Under Fire

The US policy backdrop is moving against that boomer skepticism. In May 2025, the Department of Labor rescinded guidance that had urged 401(k) fiduciaries to exercise “extreme care” when considering crypto investments, returning to a stance that neither endorses nor discourages digital assets. In August 2025, President Donald Trump signed an executive order directing federal agencies to widen 401(k) access to alternative assets, including digital-asset exposure through certain investment vehicles. In March 2026, the department issued a draft rule that would add crypto and other alternatives to workplace plans and would require fiduciaries to assess risk, liquidity, valuation and costs. In June 2026, Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren and Representative Bobby Scott asked the department to withdraw the proposal, arguing it would expose retirement accounts to exceptionally volatile assets. Opposition also runs wide among the public: an August survey by the National Institute on Retirement Security of 1,203 adults aged 25 and older found 77% consider crypto in workplace retirement plans risky, 46% view it as very risky, and 53% oppose employers offering it at all. European pension anxiety frames the OKX data: a May survey by Debating Europe, the citizen-engagement unit of Friends of Europe, found 43% of 2,000 respondents aged 18 to 35 across six countries expect their pensions to fall short of funding retirement.

Where Perception Meets Policy

Read carefully, the OKX research measures perception rather than money flows. It asked which assets respondents associate with lasting wealth and sampled only people with crypto experience; it tracked neither spot trading nor contract trading activity, nor actual wallet balances or pension contributions, so nothing in the data shows a European investor abandoning a pension. The direction is still notable: the cohort most likely to add exposure over five years, the under-45s, is the same group Washington is writing retirement rules for, while the European crypto preference sits alongside documented doubts about pension adequacy. Readers considering a first position can follow our step-by-step guide to buying Bitcoin in Europe. The open question is whether perception converts into allocation as that cohort ages, or whether the June 2026 opposition stalls the March 2026 draft rule before it is finalized.