Hargreaves Lansdown to offer crypto ETNs after UK ban lift, despite calling Bitcoin ‘not an asset class’

Hargreaves Lansdown, the UK’s biggest retail investment platform with roughly £170 billion in assets under administration, is planning to give its more than two million clients access to crypto exchange-traded notes. The move follows the Financial Conduct Authority’s decision on October 8, 2025 to lift a four-year ban on retail crypto ETN products. The platform has explicitly told customers that “bitcoin is not an asset class” and warned that crypto “has no intrinsic value.” What HL is actually offering The platform plans to list physically backed Bitcoin and Ethereum ETNs that trade on UK-recognised exchanges like the London Stock Exchange. These products will be classified as Restricted Mass Market Investments, a regulatory category that comes with its own set of consumer protections. One key restriction: a portfolio exposure cap expected to land around 10%. Clients won’t own actual Bitcoin or Ethereum. There are no wallets, no staking, no direct custody of digital assets. The platform is targeting an early 2026 launch, with plans to offer GBP-denominated versions of these products. As of late summer 2026, however, the service had not yet gone live. HL has reportedly been priorit...