BlockBeats News, December 2nd. According to The Wall Street Journal, a strong investment culture is sweeping through the US military. From tech stocks to cryptocurrency, the military is becoming a unique “investment club.”
The report states that this trend is tangibly transforming the financial situation of servicemembers. Porsches and Hummers in military base parking lots are becoming more common, and social media influencers in uniform are teaching their followers the ways to get rich. However, this phenomenon also comes with significant market risks, as some servicemembers’ high-leverage and concentrated holding strategies have raised concerns from outsiders about their financial situation in market downturns.
The article illustrates the high-risk nature of military investing through several cases. The story of Coast Guard Petty Officer Third Class Bryson Saunders is quite representative. He entered the market after hearing a comrade boast about making money on Dogecoin, then invested in Bitcoin and meme stocks like GameStop, saying, “I was trying to punch my ticket.”
Navy Lieutenant Zach Rodriguez, while cruising the Pacific on an aircraft carrier, influenced by his peers, put half of his family’s savings (over $100,000) into cryptocurrencies like Chainlink. He experienced asset surges but also suffered a painful loss of $250,000 worth of cryptocurrency to a scam. Today, he calls himself a “bitcoin and chill” investor, holding about $1 million worth of Bitcoin and related company assets.
The article, analyzing IRS data, found that the US military played a significant role in the cryptocurrency market cycle from 2020 to 2021. The data shows that in 2021, among the 25 US postal code areas with the highest individual income tax return rates declaring receipt or disposal of cryptocurrency, 11 were around military bases. The participation rate of taxpayers from some military bases is more than four times the national average across the US.
