In May and June 2025, Ashfords took part in the latest Future Finance collaborative challenge programme – as part of an expert panel discussing continued growth of the UK cryptoasset sector and related opportunities and implications for financial advisors.
In this article, we highlight some of the opportunities and implications of cryptoasset growth for financial advisors, providing next steps for firms whilst considering the UK's cryptoasset developments.
It’s clear that financial advisors may miss an opportunity to fully service clients if firms do not adapt, to develop an understanding of the cryptoasset sector and plan how they might offer sensible solutions and services for clients requiring advice in relation to or seeking to invest in cryptoassets.
This isn’t new – cryptoassets continue to become more difficult to ignore! Continued development and capital entering the sector, plus increased client awareness and interest in cryptoassets supports this – a recent 2024/25 YouGov consumer research on cryptoassets identifying c. 93% of UK adults having heard of cryptoassets and c. 12% of UK adults having owned/owning cryptoassets (a significant increase from c. 4% in 2021) all support this potential opportunity for firms.
It's important that this comment comes with a health warning – ability for firms to offer regulated advice in respect of cryptoassets is subject to further UK regulatory developments, in particular the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) intended roll out of a new sophisticated regulatory authorisation regime related to cryptoassets and stablecoins, to include intermediaries and firms providing advice. Ashfords wrote about this in our future of UK cryptoasset regulation insight - it's anticipated the new regulatory regime will 'go live' in 2026 if all goes to plan.
Equally, a firm’s appetite to provide these types of services will likely depend on its own risk appetite, characteristics of its client base and intended target market, plus its future plans and ambitions for servicing new sectors.
In any event though, firms should take stock of the opportunity that cryptoassets represent and monitor progress of the FCA’s cryptoasset roadmap carefully, whilst considering due diligence required to determine if offering cryptoasset advisory and intermediary services in future represents a compelling value proposition for its business and clients.
Related, if firms did see a strong opportunity, it would be wise to consider legal and regulatory implications of building out a new service in line with forthcoming FCA requirements, for example – in due course, how might it:
The Future Finance team are continuing to research and gather information on the challenge topic – implications and opportunities for financial advisors in relation to cryptoasset growth, and plan to publish outcomes and more thorough feedback to its network in Q3 2025.
Future Finance is focused on boosting the UK financial services sector’s impact and global competitiveness, offering a fully-funded support package and accelerator programme to UK financial service providers, assisting small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to adopt innovative products and processes for the future.
This particular collaborative challenge as part of Future Finance was designed to address issues and consider requirements relevant for cryptoasset advisory and investment services that financial advisors may wish to offer or explore in future, subject to requirements in the FCA’s cryptoasset regulatory roadmap. The export group considered key developments impacting the sector and held discussion on potential outcomes and actions for firms to consider.
Oliver Woodhouse, Ashfords’ financial services regulatory lead said:
“Future Finance has a clear mission to support UK SMEs in the sector to grow and take opportunities to innovate, operationally and in servicing customers – the challenge topic, focused on cryptoasset developments, is of great interest given the significant regulatory change on the horizon, which will impact UK and overseas firms operating in the space."
Ashfords’ fintech team has experience advising different service providers in the cryptoasset space, including intermediaries, issuing firms and technology providers. Please get in touch with Oliver Woodhouse if you’d like to discuss UK regulatory changes impacting the sector.
