Asia’s wealthiest are moving away from the US dollar in favor of Bitcoin, gold, and Chinese assets, UBS reveals.
During a Bloomberg event in Hong Kong, Amy Lo, a senior executive at UBS, disclosed that Asian billionaires are steadily shifting away from the US dollar to diversify into Bitcoin, gold, and Chinese assets. This transition is driven by escalating geopolitical tensions and volatility in traditional markets.
The trend is particularly significant given the scale of Asia’s wealth management industry, which oversaw around $20.7 trillion in 2024 and is projected to grow to $37 trillion by 2029. UBS alone manages $678 billion in Asian assets and advises most of the region’s billionaire clients.
Asia’s financial elite have now allocated over 15% of their wealth to cryptocurrencies and gold, signaling a clear break from traditional US dollar-denominated investments.
A 2024 study by Aspen Digital found that 76% of Asian family offices and high-net-worth investors hold digital assets, up from 58% in 2022. Many have increased their crypto allocations from 5% to over 10% of their portfolios, with Singapore leading the trend — 57% of Singaporean investors plan to further expand their crypto exposure over the next two years.
Jay Jacobs, Head of Thematics and Active ETFs at BlackRock, noted that numerous nations are actively diversifying their reserves away from the US dollar into gold and Bitcoin.
The rise of assets seen as safe havens coincides with shifting central bank policies across Asia. Recent IMF data shows the US dollar’s share of global foreign currency reserves has fallen to 57.4%, down from 70% two decades ago, while Asian central banks have increased their gold reserves by 23% since 2021.
