'Cash, candy or Bitcoin': Paying minors in 2021

A Bloomberg contributor will be paying his son Bitcoin in exchange for chores above and beyond his usual scope, but he is seemingly unable to decide on the best means of payment.

In an opinion piece today, Eddie Yoon said he would pay his seventh grader 0.00055 Bitcoin (BTC) — roughly $23.50 at the time of publication — for the boy helping him with competitive pricing benchmarking for a rental property. Yoon said he gave his son Luke a choice of “cash, candy, or Bitcoin” for the work, closing the deal with a handshake.

According to the Bloomberg contributor, the move was based on giving his children a role in their own financial decisions rather than jumping in on any craze. He said he helped Luke purchase Tesla stock in 2016 and his daughters buy into Apple and Alphabet.

“We’ve told our kids that we will fund any investment that we collectively agree on between now and the age of 25,” said Yoon. “We don’t plan to leave them an inheritance, so we want them to be equipped for a future in which their own investments give them financial security.”

Yoon added that he has “yet to figure out which cryptocurrency platform allows minors to open accounts.” There are few, if any, laws that prohibit children under the age of 18 from HOLDing or trading cryptocurrency, but many exchanges still require verification to ensure their users are of legal age. Alternatively, adults can gift minors crypto with paper wallets or through Bitcoin ATMs.

“We don’t want our kids to necessarily beat the market. We want our kids to be able to think independently about money. We want them to manage their money, not let it manage them. We want them to find the right balance between ignorance and obsession with money.”

Though many children — and adults — may not always be able to understand the complexities of the market, some crypto enthusiasts have already taken the first steps toward them becoming more financially educated. Three-year-old Lily Knight, born during the 2017 bull run, meets both criteria by teaching others about crypto and blockchain on her YouTube channel.

Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban said in a tweet Saturday that he and his 11-year-old son Jake collectively own 3,250 Dogecoin (DOGE) — roughly $1,556 at the time of publication. Cuban previously claimed he used the token for entertainment and financial education.

However, one of the youngest prominent crypto holders is Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s son X Æ A-Xii — pronounced “ex ash eh twelve” — who recently celebrated his first birthday. Musk said he purchased some DOGE for the baby at nine months old, referring to him as a "toddler HODLer.”