Making Crypto Tax Efficient | Dan Gold | Stratiphy [EP. 313]
Dan Gold is founder and CEO of Stratiphy, and as far as anyone knows, the only platform offering tax-efficient crypto exposure to UK retail investors right now.
For a brief window, the tax-efficient path into crypto for UK retail investors simply stopped existing. Not because of a ban, exactly, but because of a sequence of regulatory moves that closed every practical door at once.
The FCA lifted the retail crypto ETN ban in October 2025. That should have been the moment the gates opened. Then HMRC closed the stocks-and-shares ISA route for new crypto ETN purchases at the start of this tax year, leaving them eligible only for Innovative Finance ISAs, which is a wrapper no mainstream platform offered. Technically allowed. Practically impossible.
Dan Gold, founder and CEO of Stratiphy, just re-opened it. They're the first mover, and as best as anyone can tell, the only mover.
Stratiphy is built around automation, risk management, and AI for self-directed investors and users of discretionary managed strategies. The new launch, in partnership with 21Shares (Europe's largest crypto ETP issuer), gives UK investors access to bitcoin, ether, and the new BOLD bitcoin/gold hybrid ETN inside an ISA wrapper. Tax-efficient crypto exposure, available again, through one platform.
In this conversation, we get into:
The regulatory maze. How the FCA's lift, HMRC's tightening, and the IF ISA technicality combined to create a window that only one platform stepped through — and what it took to actually launch inside it.
Bitcoin: lottery ticket or line item? There's a version of the conversation where bitcoin is a speculative punt. There's another where it's a legitimate piece of portfolio construction. Dan has thought hard about which version is right, and his answer shapes how Stratiphy presents the product.
The IFA question. Independent financial advisers haven't broadly embraced crypto as an allocation. Dan's view is that this isn't a permanent state of affairs — the education gap will close, the demand from clients will keep building, and advisers will get on board whether they like it or not.
Launching into a 35% drawdown. Going live during a sharp down market is a stress test you don't choose. Dan talks about what it reveals — about your product, your messaging, and most of all, who your real customers actually are when the chart isn't doing the marketing for you.
Where Stratiphy goes next. The ISA launch is the headline, but it's not the destination.
Follow Dan on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/dan-gold-5186091b2
Learn more about Stratiphy: stratiphy.io
CHAPTERS:
00:00 Tax-Efficient Crypto in the UK: The Short Story
00:25 The Regulatory Sequence
03:00 IFAs and the Education Gap
04:00 Portfolio Construction or a Punt?
05:30 Bitcoin: Lottery Ticket or Asset Allocation?
08:00 Launching Into a Down Market
09:30 Where Stratiphy Goes Next
11:30 Sign-Off
00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:03,840
People are seeing it more as a
viable way to diversify their
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portfolios and we're seeing more
and more interest from audiences
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that would traditionally not be
looking at crypto.
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We're not a crypto first
company.
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Our approach is all around
automation, risk management, AI.
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We see a disproportionate
interest in the crypto aspects.
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So there is a huge movement of
people looking to get into tech
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sufficient way to access crypto.
Welcome to MONEY Never Sleeps.
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Sharp riffs, big ideas and real
insights from smart people.
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I'm Pete Townsend.
Let's go Money.
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Never sleeps well.
So my guest this week was
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introduced to me by my friend
and long time listener Dave
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Henderson.
We originally planned a joint
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episode on crypto exchange
traded products or Etps with
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Alex Pollock from 21 shares, who
you'll know from episode 3 O 8,
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but we decided that two solo
conversations would do better
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justice to what each of them
bring to the table.
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Dan Gold is founder and CEO of
Stratify.
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Dan, welcome to Money Never
Sleeps.
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Thank you for having me.
So listen Dan, walk me through
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the sequence here.
Now, from what I know, the
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UKFCA, they lifted the ban on
retail crypto Etps or exchange
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traded products and then the
HMRC closed the stock and shares
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ISA or individual savings
account, which is a tax
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efficient account for UK
residents and they closed that
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route at the start of this tax
year.
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Did that catch the market off
guard and why do you think that
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no mainstream platform is moved
to offer this special innovative
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finance ISA alongside crypto ETP
access?
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Yeah, it's a great question.
I think to cut to the chase, I
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think it did catch the market
off guard.
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So in terms of the timeline, the
FCA had the restricted retail
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access to crypto Atns in October
last year.
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And then HMRC said that people
can invest into those crypto
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Atns in ISA until the end of the
tax year.
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And that is one of the main
benefits of investing into a
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crypto ATN rather than buying
crypto directly.
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There was a lot of uncertainty
about what would happen after
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the end of the tax year, if
they'd be allowed at all in the
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side ISIS.
Eventually the HMRC said that
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these could be bought inside in
it to finance ISIS if ISIS,
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lesser known type of ISIS is
less popular.
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It's mainly used for
peer-to-peer lending platforms,
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crowdfunding to the best of our
knowledge, it's not used by any
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investment platforms.
You know, there was a big
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question mark about whether
anyone was going to even offer
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this inside Nisa.
And so the route to tax
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efficient investing into crypto
was uncertain.
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We were looking into offering
it.
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We, like everyone else had to
assess whether we could do this
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We whether we could take on
board the kind of the the
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regulatory complexity, the
operational complexity.
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It is something we were
comfortable with and we now have
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introduced that, but to the best
of our knowledge and no one else
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in the market has offered this
and that puts us in a pretty
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unique position in the market
being able to offer crypto Etns
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in a tax efficient way.
Do you think there is some more
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education that needs to be done
here with the independent
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financial advisors?
There's more education needed
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across the board.
I mean, I think people are only
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now getting to grips with what
the product is now.
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The fact that it's been given
its blessing by the FCA, people
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are only now starting to take it
seriously in that sort of sphere
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and they just need time to come
around to the new reality that
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it's a viable alternative for
them.
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But it's not just IFA LED.
This is also client LED.
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You know, there's clients
looking for this exposure in
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their portfolios.
So the IFA will get on board
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whether they like it or not.
It is going to become more and
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more part of the mainstream.
And your model covers both
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self-directed investors and also
discretionary managed
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strategies.
People design their own approach
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and stratify executed
automatically.
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So that tool kit framing
suggests that this is portfolio
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construction thinking, not a
punt.
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Is that who's showing up?
I mean, that's exactly how we're
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trying to pitch the product.
We're trying to bring
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sophisticated investment
techniques that we've learned
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from in, you know, years of
expertise and in the industry
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and trying to make that
accessible, low cost and kind of
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enjoyable to use for the
mainstream market.
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So trying to introduce proper
portfolio construction, proper
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risk management into people's
portfolios.
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And we're trying to make a
flexible tool kit that people
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invest however they want,
whether that's stocks, ETFSETNS,
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everything.
So we're trying, you know,
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trying to appeal to that broad
segment of the market and
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offering crypto inside those
portfolios is a natural
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progression for us because it's
a very exciting and uncorrelated
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asset class, a very interesting
way to get diversification in
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your portfolio.
There's two aspects to this.
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We're bringing these assets to
our traditional investor base,
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but we're also attracting A
newer investor base now who are
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crypto focused.
So I'd say our our base is
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diversifying, but across the
board if we can focus on
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embedding those sophisticated
risk management techniques
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across all portfolios, I think
we'd be doing our clients of
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service.
Speaking of last week, I was in
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London last week speaking with
someone who's been building
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tokenized fund infrastructure
for five years.
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Tokenized fund infrastructure
uses crypto rails, right?
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And this individual still thinks
that Bitcoin is worthless.
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My view on Bitcoin specifically,
and this is not investment
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advice and I just wanted to tag
that, is that there's a real
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scarcity.
It's a decentralized network
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doing real work and it has macro
sensitivity.
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And this is an asset that is
part of the global asset
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allocation program of
institutional investors all over
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the world.
That is the point that I made to
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my friends in London and but I'm
not sure if you wanted to listen
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or not.
So do you think that UK retail
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perception needs to shift for
this product to reach its
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potential?
And do you think it's shifting?
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I mean, it's a really good
question.
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I mean, I guess the we've got to
define what reaching it's
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potential really means in this
case because a lot of people are
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pitching crypto, especially
Bitcoin as you know the new
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digital gold.
And so I think in that setting,
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it's fair to assume that it's
not a product that's going to
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keep rising in price
astronomically in perpetuity.
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And I don't think that would be
a digital gold that's more of a
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speculative punt type
instrument.
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I think reaching it's potential
means maturing, being more
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mainstream, being more widely
adopted and all of that is
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certainly happening, but
crucially being less volatile.
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And so that I think is what we
need to see over time.
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But it has dropped significantly
since the FCA introduced the
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products into the market.
But it's also not dropped
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catastrophically.
It's increased by 14% in the
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last month.
So I think there is an argument
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that, you know, people are
seeing it more as a viable way
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to diversify their portfolios.
And we're seeing more and more
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interest from audiences that
would traditionally not be
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looking at crypto.
But I think that's one of the
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main opportunities that
platforms like us can bring to
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the table, which is blurring
those lines between crypto and
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traditional investing and making
everything available in one
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place.
As you mentioned, it is down
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since FCA lifted the ban.
Now the FT article about
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stratify or about this specific
opportunity in the market?
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It frames the current context as
bad timing for your launch.
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But I would flip it if the cycle
holds and what's happened before
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with Bitcoin continues, that
this is exactly when to build
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the infrastructure.
What does launching into a
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downturn tell you about who your
real customers are?
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I mean, it's it you can't
control the market.
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You, you launch at the time you
launch and the market does what
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it does.
You, you roll with the punches.
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I don't think launching into a
down market is a bad thing
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necessarily.
I agree with you.
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You know, that's probably the
time when you may be getting
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good value for money.
And so there are people who are
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taking an opportunity in buying,
but there's obviously less hype
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and less excitement around the
product in that environment.
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So it really depends on people's
views around the long term
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opportunity of crypto.
I would point out, I guess that
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a lot of the uncertainty around
the products has been removed in
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the last couple of years.
You know, you've got backing of
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many regulators across the
globe.
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The UK is now falling into line
with what the European
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regulators were offering. the US
is behind crypto.
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So all of that uncertainty has
been removed.
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So that might be an indication
that volatility will reduce in
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the future.
And we're seeing people are
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taking that opportunity for that
reason.
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OK.
Where do you think Stratify goes
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from here?
Do you think it's going to be
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more exchange traded notes or
exchange traded products, more
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asset classes, partnerships with
independent financial advisors?
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And what do you think needs to
happen for UK retail volumes to
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close the gap with what we're
seeing for ET NS or exchange
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rated products on something like
Deutsche Borse?
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We've got a huge pipeline that
we're working through in terms
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of enhancing the products and
releasing more to our customers.
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We're really looking to build on
that partnership we have with 21
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shares.
They are one of the most
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innovative providers in the
market.
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They've just launched Bold,
which is a a combination of gold
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and Bitcoin in the same ETF, the
first hybrid commodity and
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crypto ETN.
And so we'll be offering that
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product and looking to enhance
that, that offering through
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that.
But other partnerships are
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certainly on the table.
We're talking to IFAs and
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embedding in that network is
going to be important for our
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growth launching business
accounts.
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So I think all of these things
in combination are going to help
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increase our volumes and close
that gap with traditional
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ETFS&ETETCS.
Driving your your wedge into a
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market.
This is start with your ideal
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customer profile.
It sounds like you've identified
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who that is and that you're
building around them and then
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we'll build additional routes to
market.
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I think so and I think we're in
quite an interesting place to
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comment on this whole movement
as well, because we're not a
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crypto first company, you know,
we're we're our approaches all
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around automation, risk
management, AI.
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The fact that we can offer this
across the spectrum in
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traditional products and crypto
gives us a unique perspective
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and we see I'd say a
disproportionate interest in the
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crypto aspects.
So there is a huge movement of
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people looking to get into an
effect sufficient way to access
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crypto.
So I think that's a good sign
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for the future.
Yeah, definitely is.
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Well, Dan, listen, thank you for
jumping in to talk about this
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with me.
What's the best way for people
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to get in touch with you and
learn more about Stratify?
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You can get in touch with me on
LinkedIn and you can learn about
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Stratify at our website
www.stratify.io and you can
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download our app from the app
and Play stores.
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Fantastic.
Thank you so much, Dan.
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Thank you very much.
Till next time everyone, thanks
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for watching and listening, and
don't forget to follow or
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subscribe wherever you get.
Your podcast helps others to
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find the show and it means a
heck of a lot to me.
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Till next time, see you.