UBS: Wealthy clients are shifting away from U.S. dollar-based assets and turning to gold and crypto

Global asset management firm UBS found that their high net worth clients have chosen to abandon the dollar as well as its linked assets in favor of investing in more alternative assets such as gold and crypto.

According to a report by Chinese media Cailian News, co-head of UBS Group’s Asian Wealth Management, Amy Lo, said that more wealthy investors are leaning more towards alternative assets as well as Chinese assets than ever before.

Lo said that alternative assets such as gold and cryptocurrencies have become very popular recently in light of the economic volatility triggered by Trump’s blanket trade tariffs.

“Gold is very popular now,” said Lo in an interview with Yvonne Man at the Bloomberg New Voices event held in Hong Kong on May 13.

According to Lo, UBS investors have begun to abandon the U.S. dollar, bonds, treasuries and other dollar-backed assets due to the economic uncertainty. Instead, they have started searching for more alternative “safe-haven” assets that are less affected by the trade tensions.

Price chart for Bitcoin in the past few days, May 14, 2025 | Source: crypto.news

She said that investors have started to diversify their assets, changing their portfolios from what was initially a “quite US-centric” array of investment tools. Additionally, Lo also noted investors have also come to invest in the Chinese yuan and other yuan-backed assets to avoid the dollar’s dominance.

Recent data indicates that the Chinese yuan has been outperforming the U.S. dollar in early to mid‑May 2025.

According to Reuters , the yuan reached a six‑month high of 7.2169 per dollar on May 6, and by May 13 had firmed further to about 7.201 per dollar. During the same period, the U.S. Dollar Index slipped from its recent peak near 101.79 to around 100.63 by May 14, reflecting a 0.37% drop on the day.

On the other hand, Bitcoin ( BTC ) recently crossed over the $105,000 threshold after the U.S. and China agreed on a 90-day pause on high trade tariffs, decreasing them drastically. Meanwhile, gold hit a new all-time high at $3,390 last April amidst geopolitical tensions.