Phnom Penh: A new generation of retail investors, with all the options at once, including digital assets, gold, stocks and AI, is transforming the way ordinary people invest.
Across Asia, Latin America and Europe, investors who began their financial journeys through digital asset trading institutions are now turning to building their investment portfolios in a manner similar to professional fund managers, with diversification across asset classes based on real-time data analysis and made easier by the power of artificial intelligence (AI).
The evidence emerged from a survey of over 6,000 investors across multiple countries, published in May 2026 by Bitget, one of the world’s largest multi-asset trading firms.
The findings have overturned the previously held view that digital asset investors are a separate, risk-taking group of investors, not necessarily tied to the mainstream financial sector. But the data shows that the two worlds are rapidly converging.
Currently, more than half of the investors surveyed, 52 percent, are holding stocks alongside their digital asset portfolios.
Another 35 percent are holding gold or other precious metals. Strategic commodities, led by gold, had the strongest quarterly growth of any traditional asset class in early 2026, rising from around zero percent to between 20 and 40 percent of total trading activity on major mixed-asset trading houses in just one quarter.
There are different reasons for this change in each region. In East Asia, investors cited the ability to settle trades in digital currencies at a fixed price, avoiding exchange costs, as a key driving force.
In Latin America, 78 percent of investors surveyed said that diversifying investment risk and protecting against inflation or currency depreciation were the main reasons they held both digital and traditional assets.
This trend reflects a broader reality: investors are responding to their local economic conditions by using globally accessible financial instruments.
The role of gold in this shift is particularly notable. Gold prices surged past $5,000 an ounce in early 2026, responding to ongoing inflationary pressures, geopolitical uncertainty, and the search for assets that can hold value through market cycles.
For retail investors, buying gold has historically been complicated if not through a bank or a specialized brokerage firm. But now, those barriers are being removed. “Gold has always been a key reference point whenever the market is uncertain,” said Gracy Chen, CEO of Bitget.
But what is changing now is how consumers approach buying gold. Trading is becoming more seamless and interconnected across markets.”
On some trading days this year, traditional assets, including gold futures, foreign exchange and equity products, accounted for up to 40 percent of total trading activity on major multi-asset exchanges. This is a significant shift compared to the previous 12 months, when activity on these exchanges was almost entirely concentrated on digital assets.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is accelerating this behavioral shift. More than half of the investors surveyed, 51 percent, said they were already using AI-powered tools to help support their investment decisions.
These tools are capable of analyzing price movements, interpreting earnings reports, and monitoring macroeconomic signals across asset classes simultaneously, tasks that previously required specialized expertise or the cost of professional-grade services.
Bitget’s AI trading ecosystem reached over one million users in May 2026, generating over US$1.2 billion ($1.2 billion) in trading volume across 58 AI-powered tools.
This significant achievement is not just a commercial success story But it is a clear sign that AI-assisted investing is no longer a practice reserved for a select few, but is becoming a mainstream option.
In April 2026, Bitget ranked second globally in the Stock Perpetuals market share and recorded a total inflow of $359 million, second among all centralized exchanges, according to DeFiLlama data. In addition, the institution was recognized as the “Best Global Multi-Asset Trading Platform” at the Online Trading Expo in June 2026.
In short, all of this data reveals a new generation of investors who are more informed, more risk-averse, and more technology-enabled than at any other time in the history of retail finance.
The boundaries that once separated digital asset investors from stock market participants, or gold buyers from currency traders, are now blurring, not because of any institution, but because of the constant demand. In short, the financial infrastructure has only developed to meet the needs.
Note: Digital asset trading is regulated in Cambodia according to guidelines issued by the National Bank of Cambodia. All readers should study the applicable local regulations and seek independent financial advice before engaging with any digital asset trading institution.
