You seem like you are ready to give some effort to your investments with crypto and US equity in there. So I will post my opinion on each but my experience is with smaller investments.
I stopped investing in crypto personally. Too much effort to keep up and with the recent tax laws (starting tomorrow), it will probably not be a good time to invest directly in crypto. I am considering investing in US companies that are exposed to crypto though.
Honestly if I earned a good amount AND if I was interested enough to invest in US stocks, I would invest a large chunk in US equity instead of MFs. Probably would invest in MFs only for tax saving reasons and just as a general safe investment. NPS lock in is too high and I am young, I will probably get better returns myself too.
Gold ETF (check out GOLDBEES) if you want liquidity, SGB otherwise.
If you are investing a lot of money and are dedicated, go for a proper broker like IBKR (Interactive Brokers) instead of Vested. A lot more options for stocks, less fees overall and a professional trading interface. You also get access to many more countries' stock exchanges not just US.
REITs are a thing.