Hargreaves Lansdown, one of many UK’s largest retail funding platforms, has warned that bitcoin shouldn’t be handled as a core a part of funding portfolios — even because it prepares to supply crypto merchandise to purchasers for the primary time.
In a press release printed on its web site, the Bristol-based agency mentioned bitcoin, regardless of its long-term worth positive aspects, “is just not an asset class” and lacks the intrinsic traits that might justify together with it in a portfolio for development or revenue.
Hargreaves Lansdown argued that the cryptocurrency’s worth historical past reveals durations of “excessive losses,” including that efficiency assumptions are unattainable to research and that the asset “shouldn’t be relied upon” to assist purchasers meet monetary targets.
The corporate’s remarks come shortly after the UK’s Monetary Conduct Authority (FCA) ended its almost four-year ban on crypto exchange-traded notes (ETNs) for retail traders.
Hargreaves Lansdown mentioned it plans to take a number of months to develop what it calls a “balanced consumer journey,” guaranteeing clients obtain detailed danger warnings and move an appropriateness evaluation earlier than being allowed to speculate. Shoppers who qualify will usually face a ten% portfolio cap on crypto publicity underneath FCA guidelines.
The agency additionally highlighted new regulatory circumstances for the UK market.
The FCA will solely enable crypto ETNs which can be bodily backed by bitcoin or ether — which means they’re supported by reserves of the underlying property — and which can be listed on a Recognised Funding Trade (RIE) such because the London Inventory Trade. These restrictions are supposed to convey crypto merchandise underneath the identical disclosure, transparency, and investor-protection requirements that apply to conventional securities.
Whereas bitcoin’s inclusion in typical portfolios stays a step too far for Hargreaves Lansdown, it acknowledged that some purchasers will nonetheless need speculative publicity.
The agency mentioned it expects to launch entry to crypto ETNs in early 2026, with choices prone to embody pound-denominated, bodily backed merchandise from issuers equivalent to 21Shares, CoinShares and WisdomTree.