Scott Melker discusses how one of the UK’s largest investment platforms, Hargreaves Lansdown, is now allowing retail investors to trade bitcoin (BTC-USD) and ether (ETH-USD) products after regulators lifted a ban last year.
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UK’s top investing platform opens access to Bitcoin and Ether ETNs after FCA lifts retail ban.
This is Hargreves Lansdown. That’s how you would say it in the UK.
I first honestly like I read it as Downton Abbey.
Hargreves Lansdown, which is a thing, has started offering crypto exchange traded notes to its approximately 2 million customers.
They list nine Bitcoin and Ether products here from greatest hits like BlackRock, Wisdom Tree, 21 shares, Invesco, coin shares, and of course, Bitwise.
Now, interestingly, UK regulators lifted the ban on these products at the end of 2021 in October, right at the top of the market.
And Hargreeves was the final major UK platform holding out.
And at the time, and I quote, they publicly declared that Bitcoin is not an asset class at all.
This is kind of like the uh, Vanguard of the UK. If you remember, Vanguard said they would never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever offer these Bitcoin products because it didn’t align with their ethos.
Well, that’s what’s happening here with Hargreeves in the UK now.
Access remains restricted.
So, investors must complete an appropriateness test.
They must qualify for the platform’s advanced investing services and a 24-hour cooling off period applies.
So this is not exactly a ringing endorsement of the asset class from them, but the real story is that they’ve capitulated.
Every other provider has already offered these since the ban was lifted, and now they’re doing it because they have to, even if they don’t like it.
A very crypto story is where we drag along the haters who join the end of the party and are at the very end of the parade because they have to be.
They’re going to lose customers if they don’t offer these.
We’ve seen the same with reluctance from American institutions that have now become more excited about it, the holdouts like Morgan Stanley that have now become pro-crypto and Charles Schwab that have now become pro-crypto.
And of course, Vanguard will be adding crypto as well.
So I I think it’s fair to say that this institution in Britain has not embraced unrestricted crypto investing here.
They’ve created a tightly controlled pathway through conventional brokerage and retirement accounts, but the largest remaining holdout here is capitulated.
So, you know, uh Hargreeves I think said Bitcoin was not an asset class and apparently it became one as soon as BlackRock sent them the memo.
Larry Fink, you guys need to offer these things.
