Nearly Half of Gen Z Want Digital Assets as Holiday Gifts: Visa Survey

Results from a survey Morning Consult conducted from Oct. 14 to 16 on behalf of Visa show that nearly half of U.S. shoppers, 47%, have already used AI for at least one holiday-related task. The most common applications-coming up with gift ideas or comparing prices-further suggest digital assistants are rapidly shedding their novelty status and emerging as everyday shopping infrastructure.

Visa executives framed this year as an inflection point in the continued adoption of AI. Bruce Cundiff, Vice President of Consumer Insights at Visa, said shoppers are adopting digital tools "at remarkable speed," a trend that seems to be reshaping everything from product discovery to how consumers navigate discounts. The survey also captured enthusiasm for cryptocurrency as a holiday gift category.

Twenty-eight percent of all U.S. respondents said they would be excited to receive crypto as a present, while interest among Gen Z rose to 45 percent-making crypto one of the most desired non-traditional gifts for younger adults. The same group showed elevated interest in stablecoins as well. Ten percent of all respondents expect stablecoins to become dominant by 2030 and 28 percent foresee mainstream usage by 2035.

Generational differences were among the strongest themes in the study. Younger consumers are diverging sharply from older cohorts in how they shop, pay, and authenticate transactions. Of Gen Z respondents, 71% said they use biometric authentication for holiday purchases, reflecting growing comfort with facial and fingerprint verification as primary security tools. Sixty percent said they shop with overseas merchants for holiday gifts, a figure that underlines the global nature of Gen Z's purchasing habits and the ease with which digital payments now facilitate cross-border commerce. More than half-55%-reported buying gifts directly through social media platforms, and 44% said they have used cryptocurrency for a purchase, making them the most crypto-active age group captured in the findings.

This generational shift is further underlined by the preference split between digital and physical payment formats. Among Gen Z respondents, 36% favor digital wallets for holiday spending, against 34% who still prefer traditional physical cards. This stands in contrast to older shoppers, who still lean more heavily toward physical cards and cash.

Even with the rising use of AI tools, cryptocurrency, and digital wallets, the survey underlines that consumers still want clarity and control. A majority of AI users-some 61 percent-identified human interaction as their preference for customer support, despite their general comfort with digital tools. Sixty percent said they want more transparency about how AI shopping assistants gather and use their personal data. These concerns emerge in conjunction with broader anxieties about online safety: 66 percent of respondents said they fear that friends or family could be scammed this holiday season, while 39 percent noted they had personally encountered an online scam in the past year. The mixture of enthusiasm and caution brings about a mixed picture where consumers are eager to leverage technology to ease their shopping but at the same time stay alert to the risks that come with it.

Holiday spending will increase modestly compared with prior years. Visa forecasts 4.6 percent year-over-year growth in holiday spending across the U.S., but inflationary factors may complicate interpretations of that growth. While Visa's analysis does not try to characterize the inflationary component explicitly, economic commentators generally agree that inflated prices can mask real-term stagnant demand. Regardless, the company does note that this year, consumers are more willing to plan ahead, use digital tools to find value, and apply AI-assisted shopping routines to optimize spending.

For retailers, the findings point to rapidly changing consumer expectations. If nearly half the shopping population now uses AI for recommendations and comparisons, retailers may need to embed these tools directly into their online experiences if they wish to remain visible to consumers who are increasingly using AI-driven search and discovery. Payment providers and fintech platforms will, meanwhile, benefit from momentum around digital wallets, biometric authentication, and crypto-based transactions, particularly as younger consumers normalize these tools. Visa itself continues to focus on extending digital payment infrastructure, including stablecoin pathways and digital-asset settlement pilots in multiple regions.

The broader signal from the survey is that AI and crypto gifting are no longer fringe behaviors. Instead, they reflect a cultural shift in how consumers conceptualize value, convenience, and personalization during the holiday season. If these trends continue, the 2025 season may be remembered as an early milestone in the mainstreaming of AI-enhanced shopping and digital-asset gifting. The findings suggest that the U.S. holiday economy is entering a new phase, one in which digital tools shape not only how people shop, but also what they choose to give.