A lot of millenials have learned a lot about the existing financial system due to Bitcoin, even if it was initially to make a quick buck, and I suspect there's no way back to fiat for a lot of them.
This is exactly the kind of one-sided perspective that makes me very sceptical. No, they didn't 'leave fiat' in any way, and they never will. At best they can hedge against it a little. But while that might be personally profitable, it is not clear at all whether it is a net benefit; the main problem of western economies nowadays seems to be too tight monetary policy, and crypto is tighter than fiat.
Is not cryptocurrency the ultimate fiat currency?
It only has worth because we all "agree" it does via supply and demand for the currency itself, rather than any backing material value. Aside from a bunch of power plants in China, I suppose? But people don't hold Bitcoin at $20,000 because they strongly believe in the material worth of the rural Chinese electric grid.
(post edited to say "fiat currency" rather than the noun "fiat" which means decree or command)
I did not mean the bare word "fiat", and will update my post accordingly.
Whether millenials have learned about existing financial systems or not is immaterial. It's unlikely they'd be holding a position in bitcoin if it weren't for the massive gains that have been seen in the past year. It's purely a get rich quick play for the majority of buyers today.
And if this is a speculative bubble the way it looks like it is, it will end like other speculative bubbles. A few people will get absurdly rich, not because they added any value to the system, but because they were able to time the market. Their money will come from the many others who will lose a lot because they tried to do the same thing but were too late.
Beyond that, there seems to be a small group of people who are interested in it because they see it as an alternative to fiat currency. But strong opposition to fiat currency seems to be one of those odd economic beliefs that some people get, similar to the people who think that our society would be great if we just got rid of money and had a barter system. Outside of fringe beliefs, fiat currency is generally seen as a useful tool.