After four years of playing the world’s strictest hall monitor, the Financial Conduct Authority has decided that perhaps crypto exchange-traded notes aren’t the boogeyman after all. Beginning October 8, U.K. investors will once again be able to buy Bitcoin-linked ETNs without having to disguise themselves as American or European traders. The reversal is less about loosening a rule and more about acknowledging that Britain’s attempt at crypto abstinence only left it standing in the corner while everyone else danced.

Back in 2021, regulators deemed crypto ETNs too volatile, too fraud-prone, and too inscrutable to trust retail investors with. The message was clear: Britain was not going to enable any reckless gambling. Except, of course, investors promptly went abroad to get their fix, some turned to U.S. ETFs that have since pulled in more than $65 billion, others bought MicroStrategy stock as a sort of Bitcoin cosplay. The result? Britain’s “protection” looked more like missed opportunity.

Now the FCA is trying to rejoin the party it left early. Industry voices insist this isn’t just a small shift. London, after all, remains the second-largest financial center on Earth, plugged into the wiring of custody, trading, legal services, and settlement. As Charlie Morris of ByteTree put it, opening crypto ETNs here may have ripple effects far larger than skeptics expect. It’s not just about offering a new product; it’s about embedding digital assets into the plumbing of global fund markets.

Still, let’s not confuse legality with accessibility. Britain’s investment-advice industry is famously fragmented, filled with advisers who will now need to hold committee meetings, rewrite risk frameworks, and draft solemn memos before deciding whether to recommend a crypto ETN to anyone. As Peter Lane of Jacobi Asset Management dryly observed, just because the FCA lifted the ban doesn’t mean clients will see these products on offer tomorrow morning.

What the reversal does signal, though, is intent. London has finally realized that standing still in a fast-moving global market is another way of falling behind. With ex-chancellors moonlighting as crypto advisers and regulators apparently willing to risk another look, Britain seems less interested in being the stern adult in the room and more eager to prove it can still keep up with the cool kids, albeit in a well-tailored suit.

👉Join our Trading Community’s newsletter!👈

Finally, if you learned something, give us some love 💗 and SHARE. 🔁