Navigating the D-Gen Economy: Insights from Stocktwits CEO Howard Lindzon

Welcome to FinTech TV.

I'm Remmy Blair.

Retail investors now account for 25% of all stock market trading volume, nearly double their market share from just a few years ago.

Well joining me here at the Ando summit to talk about the DG economy and the future of trading. is co-founder and CEO of Stock Twit, the largest social platform for investors and traders.

Howard.

Howard, great to have you here.

Nice to meet you.

Well, first and foremost, let's talk about the DG economy.

So for viewers out there who may not be familiar, what exactly is it?

Well, it's a term I came up with.

I think it's funny.

Uh, so I do, I use it in the most positive light because I, I own and operate two degenerates, a 26-year-old, a 28-year-old.

Uh, they don't gamble.

One invests, one vapes, uh, one bets, but so I should say bets, and they'll call me up and talk about paralyze.

I'm like, who are you?

Like there's such terrible bets.

But, uh, degenerate economy is, we live in this world where 5 years ago, Uh, uh, if I was an investor in Robinhood, 5 years ago, Vlad and Robinhood were in a lot of trouble because confetti, if you, if you put on an investment or a trade, and confetti came down, the world was like, oh my goodness, you're gamifying investment.

And that's what the world thought degeneracy was in 2020.

Today, in 2026, you can forget the competti.

They removed the competti, but you can, um, parlay a stock trade with a, uh, a basketball bet.

So if you search on Robinhood, this is not that, you know, not big think you can go from betting on Nvidia during the day or investing in Nvidia in the day to betting on sports at night.

I think that's a pretty big degeneracy, um.

Is, is this humans, this is the ultimate game.

The, you know, gaming is a huge business.

The markets are the ultimate game.

Uh, Ayoshi over there from Alpaca, Robinhood, uh, uh, Coinbase, Kraken.

Um, the ultimate game turns out to be the market, which is something I always thought would happen.

Why play games when you can play the real game?

Uh, there is degeneracy that goes along with that.

Uh, it's not just the retail, it's the institutions with 2 times, 3 times leveraged ETFs.

Uh, everybody's unfortunately, unfortunately participating in this game, so buyer beware, but really an amazing time to, for people to learn the language of.

The Markets and to be investors.

Yes, and you mentioned that it's 2026, and when we think back to 2020, it is, right?

So much has happened.

I know it feels like it should be 2030 by now given everything that's happened in the first month of this year, but we have gone from the COVID pandemic era to 2026, and we're here at the Ando summit and we're talking about the rails that were utilized for crypto.

Moving into institutional adoption.

So first and foremost, what are some of the headwinds and tailwinds you're paying attention to, especially when it comes to what affects the stalk twits audience?

Well, for the stalk twit audience, they want to be left alone.

Same with Twitter, same with any social network, you know, on Google, which I use YouTube, I lean back and I trust the algorithm.

On Twitter, I can't use the app because it's wired to make me angry, um, because of the way engagement works, right?

You're, you're leaning forward in your phone.

I don't really use Instagram, but I watch my daughter and my wife use Instagram.

Uh, I think they get great use out of that and TikTok, but again, a lot of negativity.

Uh, Atars that's, our idea is real time.

If you post a message, whether you like, whether you like it or not, we keep it chronological, because that's the way the market works, right?

It's just a long feed of trades and information, and it's up to the user to curate.

So the feature I see is a more.

You know, again, like any game, especially a global game like the markets, I just feel people want to play the game.

What's major changes we went from a world of globalization, which was like, let's do business with China, let's free trade, uh, free trade agreements to a world of deglobalization.

I think that's just finally, you know, it's a 2 year old, 3 year old trend, but it's finally like, America wants Greenland, America's fighting with Canada.

These are not things that you would have predicted, but 6 months ago or a year ago.

So, it's a very new trend.

Uh, I don't think investors, you know, they're used to tech, they're used to software stocks, they're used to the Fang, they're, and now you've got, you've got defense, you've got rockets, you've got Europe because of, you know, you've got, uh, global stocks working, you have wars, you have, um, so I think That's what people are truly thinking about, and you can see it now playing out in gold and silver and commodities and graphite.

So it's very interesting.

Yeah, I'm glad you brought that up, that concept of deglobalization, because we're seeing that so-called debasement trade playing out in precious metals.

But aside from how it affects the market, how concerned are you, especially as we're coming from New York City and the US?

Again, I'm 60, so I have this saying that it's never been a better time to be wealthy and 60 because I'll be dead if everybody screws this.

Well, people are living longer, right?

Yeah, but I'm saying I'm closer to death than most, uh, odds are because I'm 60, no matter, there's days I wake up, most days I feel like I'm in my 40s, and, but 60s are a warning that 70s are ahead.

So there are many days where I wake up and I'm like, You know, 60 is not good.

So, so deglobalization is not something that's going to change overnight.

We had a 20-30 year span of globalization, right?

Apple in China, uh, manufacturing, uh, Canada was our friend.

Uh, we didn't realize it's going all in Europe.

Now that's the borders and everything's changing and people don't, this doesn't unlock with the next president.

Like things have been set in motion.

Unlike you know, degeneracy, there's two trends degeneracy, deglobalization.

Then if the Republicans lose, degeneracy could get You know, uh, push, kicked, and stopped way down the road.

Deglobalization, very much different trend because people have set up tooling and people are moving, you know, bodies.

So those are two massive trends.

The deglobalization trend is a much bigger trend.

And, and, and if you're 20 or like my kids and they're in their twenties, very stressful, right?

They've had to deal with COVID, work from home, so that what their norms were, what the workforce was have been taken away.

Uh, the institutions that they thought were OK to believe in or people are telling them not to believe in, and their information comes from a feed, uh, and the fingers on that feed are Elon Musk, China, you know, Mao, Oracle, um, Zuckerberg, you know, like.

Me, I guess, but we don't mess with the algorithm.

But, um, so you got kids have got to be very careful how, who they get their mentorship from, right?

So I worry about that.

I, I, I, I'm only successful because of the mentorship that I got, and if kids can't get the mentorship.

And so I worry about that.

Yeah, I think you bring up a lot of important points there, but we're talking about people living longer, and you said you're 60, but they say 60 is the new 30, right?

So it depends what you do with your time.

I, you know, I get inundated if you go on Instagram and you're 60, somehow you start seeing every drug, you know, from HMs to peptides to like you gotta do this, you gotta do that, very overwhelming.

No this, and then I'm sure a young person overwhelmed with their feeds, so.

You know, it's a lot to learn.

When I was 20 you were supposed to eat carbs and go running, and life would be good.

I think both those things could kill you.

Yeah.

And, and I would say lifting weights is probably the biggest change that I've made because I don't have time to like do all the stuff, but I would say I spent way too much time on cardio based on what I'm learning and not enough time lifting weights.

So I'm kind of reversing that, and I do feel better.

Like you don't have to work out as long.

But you see results.

It takes a little longer to get results, but I think it works.

Yes, so HIIT training, you don't have to spend as much time doing cardio.

Maybe that's something to think about as well.

But you know, we know that longevity is a theme, and while we're talking about the intersection of generations and what's happening in terms of the markets, I think prediction markets are something that we're all watching.

Where do you see all of this shaking out?

Well, there's two trends there.

I'm getting older.

The generational passing down of wealth.

So I'm very passionated by, you know, wealth management.

You know, the governments have been printing money for hundreds of years.

Uh, now you have digital money.

We have inflation.

We could argue about inflation, but we have all this money being printed, all this wealth being created.

Uh, my biggest theme is, it's not very sexy, but it's like the management of said money.

Not just the storage of it, but the management of it.

So that's a big focus of ours.

The second thing that you talk about a prediction marketer.

Um, I couldn't have predicted, uh, because I don't bet.

So if Shane and, uh, from Poly Market and we're, we're, uh, struck as exclusive partners with Poly Market or Tariq from, uh, Kha had approached me in 2019 or 2020 and said, Howard, you know, you're the first investors in Robinhood.

Uh, we, we, you know, you, what do you think?

And I'm like, I wouldn't, I wouldn't have gone there.

So, in all honesty, versus Robinson and alpaca, I like understood it with, uh, prediction marks because I don't bet, I wouldn't have seen it.

But now that I've actually used the products and see it in action and, um, see people's reactions to it.

Um, it isn't Robin Hood because I won't use it as much, but I find it fascinating as an media product, right?

So quickly, when we woke up in 2016, uh, when we went to bed in 2016, the night of the election, Most people in my category looked at the New York Times meter, and we thought Hillary would be president, right or wrong, that was our, our, our poly market.

The New York Times opinion, you know, you looked at and you went to bed 95% chance of Hillary.

What you wanna ask why poly market and culture exist that night, right?

Um, it was broker, you know, people, so much changed that, that, that night.

I, I forgetting judging good or bad.

It was a sure thing And now with prediction markets, it's almost like a FU to like the New York Times, which is true, like, you know, Trump calls it fake media.

We're all upset with the media at a piece in time.

You guys have a new media company.

The point is, who do we trust?

So the prediction markets like Amarhanim is a meter, OK.

You don't have to trust it, but money, not a finger.

It could be a finger of someone very rich, but it's different, and we don't have to trust that like Elon's.

Push the algo or Zuckerberg's Push the algo, and I think kids need to get in the habit.

I tell all my traders or, or, or kids, go to the homepage of those two.

Instead of reading news, just look at the odds, and you get a very different picture of how the world was.

And so I think we finally have a way to interact with news and media that might be less depressing.

Uh, for many, it might be broadening in horizon because you can study way more things, and, and I like that because there's less opinion.

It's just, it's just bets, and if you look at stock prices your whole life, you get used to looking at it, and I think in 3 or 4 years people will get very used to looking at prediction markets as new.

Yes, and Howard, finally, before I let you go, someone such as yourself, you mentioned The New York Times in 2016.

It's hard to believe that was almost 10 years ago because it does feel as though Election Day 2016.

Well, I remember where I was, you know, I know where I was when 9/11 happened.

I know when Princess Di died.

I know where I was.

There weren't that, you know, and I know exactly where I was.

Because I, it's not like who I was voting for.

It's just the media told me that Hillary was the president.

Yes, but you know the difference between discerning from a social media post from someone that might be not as credible versus a legacy media outlet.

So for the younger generation.

Who did not grow up around legacy media and did not grow up in an era where you didn't have a smartphone, how do they actually decide who to trust and where do they get their information when it comes to investing?

It's a great question.

Well, they have to.

For news or for investing or yeah.

So I think news is a terrible, no matter what's happening in the world, getting bogged down in news, obviously, if you want to be a journalist or you want to be, uh, a reporter, uh, obviously very important.

I mean, you know, the world needs news.

As an investor, news is the worst thing, OK?

So as I, as I teach investors, there's never been a better time to be an investor because you can start for nothing. $1 Robin Hood, $10.

Uh, the second reason it's a great time to be an investor is because there's so many people online to learn from YouTube, Shock Twitch, Twitter.

And, um, the third reason it's a great time to be an investor is because, uh, it's very easy to find mentors.

The problem is there's so much news and information, it's never been harder to stay invested.

So I think people need to pay for mentorship.

People need to get out of the habit of like doing it themselves.

It's nice to do it yourself, but it's also OK to pay a financial advisor to get advice.

And so I highly recommend young people find people to mentor them about financial stuff.

And then the other thing I, I advise young people is just start right as soon as you're 18.

You beg your parents uh to open an account, uh, start, invest it, right?

And start with the products that you use every day or simple indexes, and it really is, becomes a good daily habit, no different than vitamins or, uh, no different than, uh, weightlifting or, or whatever.

So I think the sooner you start, the sooner you get the benefits of compounding.

And, uh, then the other thing I tell people to do is journal just whether it's Twitter or Beehive or sub-stack where investors in Beehive, who cares who's reading it if you wanna be a great investor, write it down.

OK, because it gives you a journal to look back at how you were thinking, uh, and, and I think that's one of the greatest things you can do, and it's so easy to start a journal right there.

Well, Howard, we will have to leave it there for today, but I look forward to welcoming you back onto our set at the New York Stock Exchange.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.