Hargreaves Lansdown Offers Bitcoin and Ethereum ETNs to 2 Million Clients

Hargreaves Lansdown, the U.K.'s largest retail investment platform, said it will offer 9 Bitcoin and Ethereum exchange-traded notes to 2 million clients, reversing its previous warning stance on crypto investing. According to ChainCatcher, the new products come from issuers including iShares, CoinShares, WisdomTree, 21Shares, Invesco, and Bitwise, with annual fees ranging from 0% to 0.35%. New buyers must complete a suitability assessment and wait 24 hours before trading. The move follows the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority's removal of its retail ban on crypto ETPs in October last year. Hargreaves Lansdown, which manages more than $200 billion in assets, still says Bitcoin is not an asset class, but it is now offering clients Bitcoin and Ethereum exposure through its mainstream investment service rather than a crypto exchange.