Hargreaves Lansdown, the UK's largest retail investment platform, has issued a stark warning to its clients. The firm, which manages approximately $225 billion in assets, claims that Bitcoin (BTC) has “no intrinsic value” and urges investors to stay away from the asset.
The company stated that Bitcoin is an “extremely volatile” investment, despite occasionally providing positive returns in the long term:
Bitcoin is an extremely volatile investment instrument that has experienced significant losses in value on numerous occasions. At Hargreaves Lansdown, we do not view Bitcoin as an asset class. We do not believe cryptocurrencies should be included in portfolios for the purpose of generating growth or income.
The statement also stated that performance assumptions for cryptocurrencies cannot be analyzed and that, unlike other alternative investment classes, they “have no intrinsic value.”
Hargreaves Lansdown's warning follows similar recent statements from major financial institutions such as Deutsche Bank and Elliott Management.
On the other hand, despite all these warnings, the company also announced that it will soon begin offering cryptocurrency buying and selling services to its customers.
*This is not investment advice.
