The outlook for the UK to approve a bitcoin exchange traded fund in the near future is opaque at best, but that hasn’t stopped fund managers from being hopeful.

European investors already have access to crypto ETFs — which allow investors to gain exposure to bitcoin prices without needing to hold the physical tokens — through providers such as WisdomTree. Canada leapfrogged the US in tackling the North American segment, launching its first ETFs earlier this year. So why are the UK and US, normally two nations at the forefront of regulating financial innovation, so far behind?