It's hard to know exactly what "in play" means for Barclays, but the obvious use is so they can sell Bitcoin as investments to their customers. They can create a mutual fund or trust or ETF or all sorts of other investment vehicles based off Bitcoin.

This is interesting news. The SEC only has jurisdiction in the US. So if the UK FCA authority on investments, if they were to approve formal access to Bitcoin, would open the door to a lot of new investors, and subsequently a boom in price.

Now if they could also get Litecoin "in play" we'd really be set!