Crypto Warning Issued by UK’s Leading Investment Platform

Hargreaves Lansdown, the UK’s largest investment platform, has issued an anti-crypto statement, arguing that digital assets should not be included in investor portfolios, the Financial Times reports. 

The Bristol-headquartered financial services company argues that Bitcoin, the flagship cryptocurrency, has no intrinsic value, adding that it should not be viewed as an asset class.

Hargreaves Lansdown says that it will have to conduct further risk assessment before making a decision on enabling access to cryptocurrency exchange-traded notes (ETNs) on its platform. 

The UK’s crypto U-turn 

The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) initially imposed a ban on the sale and distribution of crypto ETNs to retail investors back in January 2021 due to concerns about their volatility, valuation, and some other issues. These products remained accessible only to institutional players. 

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The ban was lifted by the FCA on Wednesday, meaning that retail investors will now be able to purchase the products on the exchanges approved by the regulator. 

However, the FCA still emphasized that such ETNs are a risky investment, urging caution.  

The products are expected to start trading later this month following the conclusion of the regulator’s review process. 

UK crypto usage 

According to the data published by the FCA at the end of 2024, roughly 12% of all UK adults own cryptocurrency assets. This marked a notable increase compared to 2021, when only 4% of the respondents were crypto owners. 

Earlier this year, the FCA published a roadmap for regulating cryptocurrency activities.