Temasek Holdings has ruled out direct crypto investments, the Singapore state-owned investment firm said Wednesday, pointing to regulatory uncertainty and the lingering damage from its $275 million write-off following the collapse of FTX in 2022.
The firm, which manages S$518 billion (approximately $400 billion) in assets, will instead redirect capital toward artificial intelligence, targeting AI-related holdings of 15% of its portfolio by 2031, up from 6% in the first quarter of 2026.
"We don't have directly any investment in crypto," Nagi Hamiyeh, president of Temasek Global Investments, told CNBC . "I can't forecast what happens in the future, and the role that crypto is going to play in the main economy, depending on the different regulations that might happen."
The FTX shadow
The FTX collapse and subsequent crypto market failures exposed weak consumer protections in Singapore, prompting the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) to tighten supervision of digital asset players operating in the city-state. The result was higher compliance costs and slower licensing timelines – barriers that have made Singapore a more difficult operating environment for crypto businesses.
Those regulatory headwinds, combined with the FTX loss, have kept Temasek on the sidelines of digital assets despite continued interest in the underlying technology.
Blockchain, not crypto
Temasek's position is nuanced: the fund is not abandoning blockchain entirely. Hamiyeh said the firm is continuing to explore blockchain technology and its potential to transform the real economy. The distinction the fund appears to be making is between speculative crypto exposure — particularly direct token holdings — and infrastructure or enterprise applications of distributed ledger technology that may emerge as AI systems become more integrated into financial markets.
The pivot also reflects timing. "The AI investment cycle has just begun and will continue for decades," Hamiyeh said, though he cautioned that valuations in parts of the AI sector have run ahead of business fundamentals — a warning that echoes concerns already voiced by a number of institutional investors watching AI multiples compress after the 2022-2023 surge.
Context for the crypto industry
Temasek's stance is notable as a data point in how major institutional capital continues to treat digital assets with caution despite recovering markets. The firm joins a cohort of large, long-horizon investors — including several sovereign wealth funds — that have publicly distanced themselves from direct crypto exposure even as they acknowledge blockchain's potential.
The regulatory environment Temasek cites has shown some signs of improvement. MiCA full enforcement is now live in the EU, the CLARITY Act draft is expected in the US, and Singapore's updated payment services framework has provided more regulatory clarity. Whether those developments are enough to shift Temasek's position over time remains an open question.
The fund's broader portfolio continues to grow: it reported net portfolio value of S$518 billion for its latest reporting year, up S$49 billion from the prior year, with AI-related investments forming part of that expansion.
