HSBC: High Net Worth Investors in Singapore and Malaysia Still Hold Crypto Assets in Their Portfolios, but Funds are Moving into Gold, Deposits, and Alternative Assets

July 28th - HSBC Bank released the "Affluent Investor Snapshot 2026" report, which shows that the average allocation of cryptocurrency by global affluent and high-net-worth investors this year is 6%, a 1 percentage point decrease from 2025, but there is no apparent trend of exiting the market.

The report indicates that Singaporean investors have a 5% allocation to cryptocurrency, unchanged from last year; Malaysian investors have a 6% allocation, also remaining stable. Investors in these two regions do not see cryptocurrency as a core wealth allocation but rather as part of a diversified investment portfolio.

Meanwhile, investors are reducing their cash holdings and increasing allocations to other assets. Globally, the proportion of cash and cash equivalents in investment portfolios is 19%, down 1 percentage point from last year; the allocation to stocks has risen to 16%, while fixed income and bonds account for 14%.

In Singapore, the assets that investors plan to increase their allocation to in the next 12 months mainly include time deposits, alternative investments, and gold, with a clear growth trend in alternative investments. Malaysian investors, on the other hand, are more inclined towards gold, time deposits, and alternative assets, with the highest planned increase in gold allocation over the next 12 months.

Southeast Asian affluent investors have not given up on cryptocurrency, but with changing market conditions, their positioning is shifting from high-risk growth assets to satellite allocations, forming a diversified investment portfolio together with traditional assets such as stocks, bonds, insurance, and gold.