The Financial Conduct Authority has made and brought into force the Collective Investment Schemes Sourcebook (Cryptoasset Exchange Traded Note) Instrument 2026, FCA 2026/57. The FCA Board made the instrument on 24 September 2026 and it commenced on 28 September 2026. The change follows consultation in CP26/17, with the FCA feedback published in Chapter 3 of Handbook Notice No 144 rather than in a separate policy statement. This is a final rule in force, not a proposal.
The instrument is made under sections 137A, 137T, 247 and 261I of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000. It amends COLL 5.2.11R by inserting paragraph (9A), which allows a UCITS scheme to hold transferable securities that are cryptoasset exchange traded notes within a limit of 10 per cent of scheme property. COLL 5.6.7R(2B) applies the same 10 per cent limit to non-UCITS retail schemes and COLL 5.7.5R(2A) applies it to NURS operating as funds of alternative investment funds. New COLL 15.6.8AR prohibits long-term asset funds from holding those transferable securities.
Authorised fund managers of UCITS schemes, NURS and FAIFs operating in the United Kingdom can now take indirect cryptoasset exposure through listed notes without breaching the investment powers in COLL 5. Depositaries must test the 10 per cent limit separately from the existing cap on unapproved transferable securities. Managers of long-term asset funds gain no equivalent permission and must keep cryptoasset exchange traded notes out of scheme property. Qualified investor schemes face no percentage limit under the amended rules.
Cryptoasset exchange traded notes still have to satisfy the existing eligibility conditions for transferable securities in COLL 5. The prohibition on derivatives referencing unbacked cryptoassets is unchanged, so notes that build in geared or inverse exposure stay outside what retail schemes may hold. The 10 per cent cap runs alongside, and does not absorb, the limit on unapproved transferable securities, so a manager close to either ceiling needs to monitor both.
Licentium advises fund managers, depositaries and cryptoasset issuers on United Kingdom investment powers and product structuring. Work we undertake includes reviewing scheme documentation against the COLL 5 limits, assessing whether a listed cryptoasset product meets the transferable securities conditions, and preparing prospectus and investor disclosure changes for funds adding cryptoasset exchange traded note exposure.