The real shift isn't that Gen Z is anti-work — it's that the official economy (degree → job → corporate ladder) has stopped delivering, while a parallel invisible economy (crypto, creator, remote, quiet wealth) is visibly working for a subset, and that visible success is setting the behavioral norms for an entire generation.
College premium collapse + AI loneliness loop + invisible economy = the three forces that will drive Gen Z crypto/AI-native product adoption: when the official credentialing system fails, when institutions can't meet emotional needs, and when peer networks demonstrate that the alternative economy actually works — that's when a new financial infrastructure gets adopted overnight.