According to The Mail on Sunday, "tech-savvy" pupils have been inspired to take the plunge after seeking influencers on YouTube and TikTok.
Children in British schools are trading cryptocurrencies — despite a teacher claiming the practice is illegal.
According to The Mail on Sunday, "tech-savvy" pupils have been inspired to take the plunge after seeking influencers on YouTube and TikTok.
While some children appear to have been given access to crypto exchanges by their parents, others are reportedly managing to buy crypto through Bitcoin ATMs.
These machines have become an increasingly common sight in city centers — with hundreds in London alone.
Maths teacher Peter Jerrom claims he has caught 15 and 16-year-olds buying up to $650 on apps, while some 17-year-olds are trading anywhere between $6,500 and $13,300.
This has been happening in the south London area of Croydon — a "high-deprivation area." He added:
"There are some students doing it without their parents' knowledge. However, there are a considerable number doing it with their parents."
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A Worrying Trend
The consumer watchdog Which? has raised the alarm about young people investing in cryptocurrencies — not least because of the number of fraudsters in the space.
There are fears that opportunistic scammers may have the opportunity to prey on teenagers who have little to no experience.
While U.K. law doesn't necessarily prohibit children from owning Bitcoin, a number of trading platforms have banned under-18s from opening an account.
Know Your Customer checks also mean that it can be easy to verify when a teenager is attempting to break the rules.
Coinbase introduced tougher policies in 2017 — meaning that users could only access its services if they were over 18.
Under its old policy, children aged over 13 were eligible to have an account as long as they had parental consent.
