UK’s Largest Investment Platform Hargreaves Lansdown Opens…

Hargreaves Lansdown has opened Bitcoin and Ether exchange-traded notes to its roughly 2 million UK clients, making the country's largest investment platform one of the biggest new distribution channels for regulated retail crypto products. The company launched nine Bitcoin and Ether ETNs on September 3 from issuers including BlackRock's iShares, WisdomTree, 21Shares, Invesco, CoinShares and Bitwise. Annual product fees range from zero to 0.35%.

The move comes almost 11 months after the Financial Conduct Authority reopened retail access to qualifying crypto ETNs in October 2025, ending a prohibition that began in January 2021. Hargreaves Lansdown had been the largest major UK platform still not offering the products. It manages more than £172 billion in client savings and investments, though the ETNs will initially target experienced investors rather than all customers.

Access is not automatic. The products are available through Hargreaves Lansdown's Advanced Investing service and are classified by the FCA as Restricted Mass Market Investments. Clients must meet eligibility requirements, complete an appropriateness assessment showing sufficient knowledge and experience, and observe an FCA-required 24-hour cooling-off period. Restricted investors must also intend to allocate less than 10% of qualifying net assets to high-risk investments, while eligible high-net-worth investors can qualify through specified income or asset thresholds.

Eligible clients can hold the ETNs in an HL Fund and Share Account or a Self-Invested Personal Pension, but newly purchased crypto ETNs cannot be placed in a Stocks and Shares ISA. Unlike buying Bitcoin or Ether directly, ETN investors do not control the cryptocurrency or manage private keys; they hold an exchange-listed security that tracks the underlying digital asset, with the crypto held by a custodian. Hargreaves Lansdown charges a 0.35% annual account fee for holding the products, capped at £12.50 per month, in addition to dealing and individual ETN management charges.

The launch marks a shift for Hargreaves Lansdown. When the FCA reopened the market, the platform warned clients that 'Bitcoin is not an asset class' and initially stayed out as competitors moved in. Chief Product Officer Doug Abbott said the company took extra time to ensure its client testing and protections were robust, and HL has received consistent enquiries from more sophisticated investors.

UK regulators first banned crypto derivatives and ETNs for retail consumers in January 2021, citing extreme volatility, valuation difficulties and the risk of significant losses. Retail access to qualifying crypto ETNs resumed on October 8, 2025, provided they are admitted to a UK Recognised Investment Exchange and comply with financial-promotion and consumer-protection rules. The ban on crypto derivatives remains. 21Shares estimates London Stock Exchange crypto ETN trading volume has reached about $1.5 billion since the reopening, roughly nine times the volume in the preceding 17 months, when only professional investors could trade. London is now Europe's third-largest venue for crypto ETNs, though August daily volumes were about one-sixth of those on Deutsche Börse's Xetra.