Hargreaves Lansdown, the largest retail investment platform in the U.K. serving two million investors, has started providing nine bitcoin and ether exchange-traded notes, reversing its stance less than a year after advising clients against cryptocurrency holdings.
The company’s fresh offerings feature financial instruments from BlackRock’s iShares, CoinShares, WisdomTree, 21Shares, Invesco, and Bitwise, carrying yearly management expenses between 0% and 0.35%, as stated in its Thursday announcement.
This step occurs under a year after the platform cautioned retail participants against digital asset purchases and 11 months subsequent to the British financial regulator removing its four-year prohibition on crypto ETNs for retail investors.
Headquartered in Bristol, the organization expressed that bitcoin, notwithstanding historical price appreciation, “is not an asset class” and lacks the intrinsic attributes required to justify putting it into a portfolio aimed at income or capital expansion. Furthermore, the company noted that bitcoin’s historical pricing exhibits periods of “extreme losses,” and it “shouldn’t be relied upon” to assist customers in fulfilling financial objectives.
Hargreaves Lansdown, which manages over $200 billion in assets, stated that updated U.K. regulations now permit the provision of supervised crypto investment products, while simultaneously mandating that customers comprehend the associated dangers before executing transactions.
Prior to permitting investor trades, Hargreaves Lansdown mandates that fresh purchasers finish an appropriateness evaluation and observe a 24-hour waiting period prior to purchase. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) abolished its restriction on crypto exchange-traded products during October and currently requires businesses to evaluate whether retail customers possess adequate knowledge to comprehend the hazards of crypto ETNs, including the potential for total capital loss.
This development carries significance because Hargreaves Lansdown grants exposure to bitcoin and ether to two million users through a traditional investment channel rather than a dedicated cryptocurrency exchange.
Originally published at https://www.coindesk.com/business/2026/09/04/from-warning-to-listing-uk-s-largest-wealth-platform-opens-access-to-crypto-etns.
