Valour wins FCA approval to offer Bitcoin, Ether ETPs to UK retail investors
The rollout comes as UK regulators reopen the retail market to crypto-related products and global issuers expand regulated offerings.
Valour, the UK subsidiary of digital asset company DeFi Technologies, has secured regulatory approval to offer crypto exchange-traded products to retail investors on the London Stock Exchange.
In a Monday notice, DeFi Technologies said the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) had approved Valour’s exchange-traded products tied to Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) staking. The offerings, called 1Valour Bitcoin Physical Staking and 1Valour Ethereum Physical Staking, began trading on the London Stock Exchange on Monday.
“The UK is one of the world's most important financial markets, and these approvals broaden our ability to serve UK retail investors with transparent, exchange-listed products that provide straightforward exposure to the evolving digital asset economy,” said Johan Wattenström, DeFi Technologies chairman and CEO.
The company announced in September that it would list a Bitcoin staking ETP on the London Stock Exchange, but this was limited to professional investors, in contrast to Monday’s offering, which was targeted to UK retail investors. The FCA lifted a ban on crypto ETPs for retail investors in October, prompting offerings from asset managers such as Bitwise.
The move by Valour builds upon the company’s efforts in Brazil, where it launched an exchange-traded product tied to Solana (SOL) in December. Cointelegraph reached out to Valour for comment, but had not received a response at the time of publication.
According to the London Stock Exchange, more than 50 issuers list more than 2,300 ETPs. The exchange reportedly recorded about $280 million in trading volume for crypto ETPs in December.
CoinShares reported on Monday that exchange-traded products tied to cryptocurrencies saw more than $1.7 billion of outflows last week.
The company’s head of research, James Butterfill, attributed the change from $2.2 billion of inflows the previous week to “dwindling expectations for interest rate cuts, negative price momentum and disappointment that digital assets have not participated in the debasement trade.”
Some of the largest asset managers offering crypto ETPs and exchange-traded funds include Grayscale Investments, Fidelity Investments and BlackRock.
Asanat Analysis — Why it matters
Valour's FCA retail approval signals a critical inflection point: the UK has formally reopened its retail crypto derivatives market after years of restrictions. This isn't merely a product launch—it represents regulatory consensus that standardized, exchange-listed crypto exposure can meet consumer protection standards. The October 2024 FCA policy reversal unlocked a multi-billion-dollar addressable market, evidenced by LSE's 2,300+ listed crypto ETPs and $280M monthly volume. Valour's timing matters: it arrives as competitors (Bitwise, Grayscale, BlackRock, Fidelity) actively compete for UK retail wallet share.
The staking angle—both Bitcoin and Ethereum physical staking products—reveals an underexplored ETP innovation frontier. Traditional spot crypto ETPs are commoditized; yield-generating structures create differentiation and capture the narrative around productive assets. However, context matters: CoinShares data shows $1.7B crypto ETP outflows last week despite inflows the week prior, driven by rate-cut disappointment and momentum decay. Valour's expansion into Brazil (Solana ETP in December) and now UK retail suggests DeFi Technologies is betting on geographic arbitrage—capturing emerging market plus developed-market demand simultaneously while established players consolidate in the US.
Structurally, this accelerates the 'ETF-fication' of crypto access, reducing friction for institutional gatekeepers (pension funds, wealth advisors) to allocate to digital assets. Regulatory precedent established in UK likely pressures other Commonwealth and EU regulators to follow. The risk: if macro conditions weaken further, retail-focused products become pressure valves for redemptions before institutional money.