When effort cannot see the future: How can the trapped young generation turn things around through long-term speculation and going long in the casino?

With traditional paths to wealth closing and AI accelerating the displacement of white-collar jobs, the younger generation is being pushed onto an unseen future road. Facing low wages, high housing prices, and the influence of social media, patience and effort seem insufficient to achieve social mobility. At this moment, gambling has become a new outlet, a form of collective adaptation based on reality, giving rise to cryptocurrencies and prediction markets.

As many platforms emerge one after another, former hedge fund manager @systematicls has written a lengthy article titled “The Cage of Financial Mediocrity,” explaining how investors can precisely navigate this “long-term decline” supertrend.

Young generations trapped in the middle class: Why are upward mobility paths blocked?

systematicls first states, “A person doesn’t necessarily have to be locked up to be in captivity; one generation is walking around with invisible shackles.” The younger generation understands that stable employment and wealth accumulation through investment are fundamental routes to a better life, but they cannot imagine how to reach that destination.

He emphasizes that stagnant wages, doubling housing prices, and mounting debt are the main reasons: “The traditional path to wealth accumulation has already closed. It’s not just difficult; it’s closed.”

Post-war baby boomers, who make up 20% of the population, hold about 50% of the nation’s wealth. Meanwhile, Millennials, with the same population share, hold only about 10%. The fundamental nature of this game has long since collapsed.

He adds, “The ladder for social mobility has been pulled away. This isn’t necessarily intentional on the part of the baby boomers; it’s just that asset price inflation has benefited those who already own assets.”

(The current path is no longer viable: Why are Generation Z betting on cryptocurrencies, sports betting, and speculative markets?)

When effort no longer yields returns, why is patience still necessary?

Past career promises have vanished: loyalty to a company could guarantee security, stable jobs could ensure a worry-free retirement. Today, wage growth cannot keep up with housing and living costs, and with AI advancing step by step, the old saying of “slowly getting rich” seems less effective:

When the system no longer rewards patience, people stop being patient.

Pull and push factors: No more survival pressure, but AI and social media exert enough pressure

To understand why the world has become this way, we must first consider several forces at play.

First, on the pull side, young people are indeed enjoying the wealth benefits gained by the efforts of previous generations, no longer needing to worry about basic survival needs.

On the push side, the evolution of AI technology is cutting off many young people’s future possibilities. ChatGPT can produce better copy than newcomers, Midjourney can create designs superior to beginner artists, Claude and Cursor can write code ready for review, and demand for white-collar workers is gradually disappearing.

Meanwhile, social media algorithms repeatedly promote capitalism, showcasing “unattainable” wealth, freedom, and success stories. Endless comparisons increase anxiety and foster thoughts of giving up.

Polymarket’s billion-dollar players: Young people reclaim “control” in betting games

Today, speculation has become an option that provides a sense of “self-control”:

In crypto markets, prediction markets, and sports betting, your beliefs, research, and judgment can all play a role and generate returns. Most importantly, you can directly influence your outcomes rather than passively waiting for promotions that may never come in ten years.

This wave of speculation can now be clearly observed from data: as of November, the total monthly trading volume of Polymarket and Kalshi exceeded $10 billion, with annual trading approaching $40 billion. The annual revenue of the US sports betting industry jumped from $250 million in 2017 to $13.7 billion in 2024, with 76% of users being Generation Z.

(Introduction to Polymarket Ecosystem: An Overview of the Top 10 Prediction Market Tools Supporting Traders’ Decisions)

How to invest in young people’s anxiety? “Platforms” are the long-term winners

If most players in a casino are losers, who are the real winners? The answer is clearly “platforms.” These can include independent startups, prediction market investments, cryptocurrency infrastructure, betting operators, social trading, and communities.

(SocialFi Decline, Rise of Social Trading: How Everyday Trading Spurs the “Social Trading” Track?)

systematicls also points out that the key to investing in this generational trend is not to stick to the basic mindset of “buy Robinhood (HOOD) or Coinbase (COIN),” because large institutions have already priced these assets, making it difficult for retail investors to achieve excess returns.

The truly advantageous strategy is to diversify and invest in multiple products highly related to the speculative ecosystem:

Bet on “exchange capacity growth” events on Polymarket, such as “a certain platform’s trading volume doubling next year” or “a DEX reaching record new users.”

Position in regional or emerging speculative platforms: look for local platforms or niche markets not yet dominated by mainstream capital.

Participate in all tools and strategies that profit from “rising trading volume,” such as helping certain platforms increase transaction volume.

These methods are more aligned with the “true success” of platforms than buying platform tokens or stocks, especially since cryptocurrencies often disconnect from fundamentals.

Believing in long-term speculation and betting on socio-economic trends

systematicls emphasizes that the purpose of investing in this trend is not to praise speculation but to subjectively respond to social and economic imbalances: “Understanding the current situation allows you to pre-position and decide whether to participate. You should open your eyes wide to see reality clearly and bet where you have an advantage.”

Every era’s casino sells hope in despair. Today’s despair is global, traceable, and continuously growing, and they will keep taking a cut from it.

This article “When effort no longer reveals the future: How should trapped young generations rely on long-term speculation and betting to turn the tables?” first appeared on Chain News ABMedia.