An asset class is a group of assets that have a lot in common: they earn returns in similar ways, react similarly to economic news and follow similar rules. Investors group assets this way to understand risk and to spread it.
The main asset classes
- Cash and deposits. Safe and easy to access, but returns are often low and inflation can eat them up.
- BondsBondsA loan from the buyer to the issuer, such as a government or company, which promises to pay interest and repay the principal at maturity.. Loans to governments or companies that pay interest. They usually swing less than shares.
- Shares. Stakes in companies. Over the long run they have returned more than bonds, but with bigger swings.
- Property. Homes, commercial property and land. A home is the largest asset of most Icelandic households.
- Commodities. Gold, oil, grain and more.
Icelandic households also hold a large part of their wealth in pension funds, which spread the money across many of these classes.
Is crypto an asset class of its own?
Opinions differ. Many people see crypto as a new asset class, because it doesn't behave like anything else: it pays neither interest nor dividends, trades around the clock and its price has often moved independently of other markets. Others think bitcoin has most in common with gold. Since bitcoin exchange-traded funds were approved in the United States in January 2024, large investors have increasingly treated crypto as a class of its own.
Not all crypto is alike, either. Bitcoin, stablecoins and the tokens of smaller projects behave very differently.
Why does the grouping matter?
Assets in the same class often fall together when times are bad. If all your savings are in one class, a single shock can hit all of them. Spreading them across several classes, known as DiversificationDiversificationSpreading your money across different assets so that a fall in one of them has less effect on the whole., makes a PortfolioPortfolioAll the investments and assets of a person or fund, seen as a whole. Its mix determines both risk and return. steadier. How much goes into each class depends on a person's goals and risk tolerance.
Everything in Myntkaup Learn is written and regularly reviewed by the Myntkaup editorial team. It is for education and is not investment advice. Editorial policy. Updated 2 November 2026.