Hargreaves Lansdown has started offering crypto exchange-traded notes to retail clients, opening a regulated route for everyday investors to gain exposure to Bitcoin and Ether through the UK’s largest direct-to-consumer investment platform.
The move comes nearly a year after UK rules changed to allow retail access to certain crypto ETNs listed on recognized domestic exchanges. The products track the price of the underlying cryptocurrencies but do not give investors direct ownership of the coins.
Regulated crypto exposure through listed notes
The newly available products are crypto ETNs tied to Bitcoin and Ethereum. Rather than buying tokens directly, investors purchase notes whose value follows the market price of those assets.
Under this structure, clients do not need to manage wallets or private keys. The notes are issued by a bank or financial firm, while the underlying cryptocurrencies are held in custody on behalf of the product.
A market reopened after the FCA rule change
UK retail investors had been barred from buying crypto ETNs since 2021. That position shifted in June 2025, when the Financial Conduct Authority changed its approach and approved retail access to certain crypto ETNs listed on recognized UK exchanges from 8 October 2025.
Following that change, Bitcoin and Ether ETNs were listed on the London Stock Exchange. Hargreaves Lansdown’s decision now extends access to those products to its retail customer base, bringing regulated crypto-linked investments to a wider segment of the market.
What investors can and cannot hold
The source article says HMRC reclassified crypto ETNs as qualifying investments only within the Innovative Finance ISA from 6 April this year. Stocks and Shares ISAs had initially allowed them, but after the later reclassification, existing holders were not required to sell notes they already owned.
That distinction matters because the products may be available through some account structures but not others, depending on current tax treatment and platform rules. The core feature, however, remains the same: investors gain price exposure to crypto assets through a listed security rather than direct coin ownership.
Next step for retail access in the UK
Hargreaves Lansdown’s launch marks another step in the UK’s gradual reopening of regulated crypto investment products to non-professional investors. The confirmed change is not the creation of a new crypto asset, but the broader distribution of exchange-traded notes that already became permissible after the FCA’s 2025 decision.
For now, the key confirmed development is that retail clients on a major UK platform can access Bitcoin and Ether ETNs under the post-ban framework, with availability shaped by exchange listing rules and HMRC’s classification of the products.
Source: Cryptopolitan