The UK Financial Conduct Authority proposed a rule allowing FCA-authorized collective investment schemes to allocate up to 10% of their portfolios to crypto exchange-traded notes. The move extends the access trajectory begun when the FCA lifted its retail ETN trading ban last year, and signals increasing regulatory comfort with crypto as an asset class within mainstream fund structures.
For Armada's crypto repo desk, this creates a new potential counterparty segment: UK authorized fund managers holding crypto ETNs who may seek to finance those positions via repo. Armada's current collateral eligibility list covers BTC, ETH, SOL, HYPE, and tokenized T-Bills; crypto ETNs are a distinct instrument type that would require legal, custody, and valuation review before they could be accepted under the firm's no-rehypothecation policy.