UK Investment Giant HL Opens Crypto ETN Trading to 2M Clients

Hargreaves Lansdown (HL), the UK’s largest investment platform, began offering Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) exchange-traded notes (ETNs) to its approximately 2 million clients on September 3, 2026. 

The launch makes HL the last major UK retail investment platform to open access to crypto ETNs following the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) decision to lift its retail ban in October 2025.

Investing service. The products are issued by major asset managers, including BlackRock’s iShares, WisdomTree, 21Shares, Invesco, CoinShares and Bitwise. Annual fees range from 0% to 0.35%, according to the Financial Times.

ETNs are exchange-traded debt securities designed to track an underlying asset or index. Unlike directly holding Bitcoin or Ethereum, investors in an ETN have exposure to the issuer’s obligation to deliver the product’s promised return and therefore face issuer credit risk.

HL requires first-time investors to complete an appropriateness assessment and imposes a 24-hour cooling-off period. Chief Product Officer Doug Abbott said the measures are intended to ensure customers understand the risks associated with volatile crypto investments.

HL had remained an outlier among major UK platforms that have launched their crypto-related ETNs earlier this year.

The UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) lifted its roughly four-year-nine-month retail ban on crypto ETNs on October 8, 2025, a shift competitors including Interactive Investor and AJ Bell moved on within months. 

In April 2026, Stratiphy became the first UK platform to offer crypto ETNs through an Innovative Finance ISA. 

Since the FCA's reversal, London Stock Exchange-listed crypto ETN volume has reached roughly $1.5 billion, about nine times the turnover recorded during the prior 17 months when access was restricted to institutional investors. 

BTC-linked ETNs account for the bulk of that volume, roughly 80-85%, with ETH-linked products making up the remainder.

Hargreaves Lansdown (HL) was the last major UK investment platform to join the retail crypto ETN market, bringing regulated Bitcoin and Ethereum exposure to roughly 2 million clients. The move shows how regulatory changes are pushing crypto investment products deeper into Britain’s mainstream financial infrastructure.

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