In the light of the news that the FCA has allowed the sale of crypto ETNs to retail investors from October this year, but only those listed on an FCA-approved, UK-based investment exchange (a Recognised Investment Exchange or RIE), it seems timely to take a look at the London Stock Exchange’s recent study of the crypto products on its exchange.
Crypto ETNs were first launched on the London Stock Exchange, with two issuers on 28th May 2024. The exchange writes that since then, to the beginning of July, they had grown its Crypto issuer and product base, while gradually increasing average daily value traded on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) Order Book.
The exchange examined the listing and trading profile of Crypto ETNs in the market compared to other European primary exchanges, to understand better how these products trade.
At the time of the study in early July, the LSE had welcomed eight issuers listing 17 Crypto ETNs across 34 currency lines in total.
The exchange writes that while these products had been limited to 100 per cent physically backed bitcoin or Ethereum ETNs, they had seen some innovative offerings join the market, including Bitcoin Core products and staked ETNs.
“Looking to our many neighbours in Europe, exchanges have welcomed 25 different issuers, listing 152 Crypto ETNs with a variety of underlyings. Many of these issuers have already expressed a strong desire to explore the UK space and offer a potential long pipeline of new Crypto products. Issuer and investor confidence for the UK market could, with the upcoming announced changes, see invigorated growth for this continually evolving asset class,” the exchange says.
“Growth in the Crypto ETN space continues to accelerate, with a record EUR26 billion traded on European exchanges in 2024, an increase of more than 300 per cent year on year. So far in 2025, market volumes are on track to reach similar levels to last year’s record.
“LSE trading volumes in Crypto ETNs have picked up over recent months, especially during the Trump tariff volatility in April 2025. 2025 average daily volume traded (ADVT) on the LSE Order Book is GBP624k, up 173 per cent compared to 2024, and represents 0.59 per cent of European share of Crypto ETP trading.”
The FCA’s recent announcement opening retail access to trading crypto ETNs may well spur the listing of additional ETNs listed on other exchanges cross list onto the London Stock Exchange.
However, the exchange writes that there is not likely to be an immediate increase in LSE Order Book volumes in these products, as retail primarily negotiates trades ‘off-book’ in the UK.
“However, initiatives such as the Retail Broker Order Book Trading Scheme, are a key benefit available to retail brokers, and can bring some of that flow from the broader retail offering to the LSE’s Central Limit Order Book,” the exchange writes.
A key market concern with Crypto as an investment has always been the volatility associated with these products, the exchange says.
“This has been shaped by factors such as speculative trading, regulatory ambiguity, and the market’s limited maturity. External elements, including global economic trends, media narratives, and technological vulnerabilities, add to this unpredictability.
“However, the market, specifically related to Bitcoin and Ethereum, has matured, with such assets viewed and behaving in similar ways to ‘traditional assets’.
LSE examined the trading profiles of Crypto ETNs compared to individual stocks in the FTSE100 and FTSE 250 and found that their data suggest that their volatility may not appear as excessive as perceived, challenging some of the traditional views and assumptions around Crypto.
This trend is also evident when examining the number of circuit breakers, also known as volatility auctions, that have been triggered by Crypto ETNs on the LSE Order Book.
Since the launch of Crypto ETNs in May 2024, there has been a total of 9,601 ETP volatility auctions on the LSE Order Book, of which only 34 were in Crypto ETNs. The limited price swings of these products suggest a level of pricing maturity and stability that is often not associated with Crypto products.
In conclusion, the exchange writes that the Crypto ETN space has seen tremendous growth, which is likely to continue for the foreseeable future.
“The Crypto ETN market is expected to continue its growth and form a greater portion of both institutional and retail investor asset allocation.”
The original paper can be found here.
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