Hargreaves Lansdown has listed nine bitcoin and ether exchange-traded notes (ETNs) for its 2mn investors, 11 months after the Financial Conduct Authority lifted a four-year ban on retail access in October 2025. The UK's largest investment platform, led by chief product officer Doug Abbott, had been the last major holdout among retail platforms, previously stating "Bitcoin is not an asset class." Products from BlackRock's iShares, WisdomTree, 21Shares, Invesco, CoinShares and Bitwise carry fees from zero to 0.35%. Abbott emphasized client testing and "right level of friction" given crypto volatility.

Bitcoin peaked at $126,000 when the ban lifted, fell to $58,000 by June, and has rallied to $77,000 amid a short squeeze and renewed US buying. IG analyst Chris Beauchamp links the rally to US Treasury buyback plans. However, UK retail demand remains modest, with Interactive Investor reporting limited uptake. WisdomTree's Dovile Silenskyte cites HMRC's restriction of crypto ETNs to niche Innovative Finance ISAs as a constraint. Trading volumes on the London Stock Exchange hit $1.5bn since October, nine times prior professional-only levels, though still just one-sixth of Deutsche Börse's Xetra volumes.