By Susie Violet Ward · Forbes · 31 March 2025
The Bitcoin for Institutions event at The Law Society in London brought together investors, policymakers and industry figures to discuss bitcoin’s place in institutional finance. Speakers contrasted US pension funds, corporate treasuries and asset managers adding bitcoin with hesitation among UK institutions. Andrew Hohns of Newmarket Investment Management said institutional awareness in the UK is more nascent, and Dominic Frisby said the risk is not so much owning bitcoin as not owning it.
The FCA’s treatment of bitcoin alongside speculative cryptoassets has pushed some businesses offshore, while Baroness Claire Fox described a quango of regulators where no one has accountability. Bitcoin mining can act as a flexible buyer of surplus renewable energy, with National Grid ESO figures showing that wind curtailment cost British consumers more than £800 million in 2023.