- Charles Schwab is rolling out spot Bitcoin and Ether trading for retail clients through a dedicated crypto account linked to its brokerage platform, with custody held by its banking subsidiary and execution handled by Paxos.
- The brokerage giant, which manages US$12.22 trillion in client assets, will charge 75 basis points per transaction.
- Schwab’s move follows Morgan Stanley’s April 8 Bitcoin ETF launch and Goldman Sachs’ SEC filing for a Bitcoin-linked income fund.
Charles Schwab will begin rolling out spot cryptocurrency trading for retail clients in the coming weeks, starting with Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH), bringing one of the largest US brokerages deeper into the crypto market.
The firm, which holds US$12.22 trillion (AU$17.11 trillion) in total client assets, said the service will be offered through a separate crypto account linked to clients’ existing brokerage relationship.
Custody will be handled by Charles Schwab Premier Bank, SSB, while trade execution will run through Paxos, a blockchain infrastructure company regulated by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.
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Wall Street’s Crypto Push
The rollout will happen in phases and will initially be limited to eligible US retail clients, excluding residents of New York and Louisiana.
Schwab said customers will be able to view and trade crypto alongside stocks and other investments on Schwab.com, Schwab Mobile and Thinkorswim. The company also plans to add more cryptocurrencies and enable deposits and withdrawals over time.
Schwab will charge 75 basis points, or 0.75%, per transaction. That is higher than Kraken’s starting fee range of about 0.25% to 0.40%, and broadly in line with retail pricing on several major platforms that charge around 0.40% to 0.60% for lower-volume traders.
The launch follows signs of existing demand inside Schwab’s customer base. According to internal estimates cited by the company, Schwab clients already hold about 20% of US spot crypto exchange-traded products.
Similarly, Morgan Stanley launched a spot Bitcoin ETF that brought in US$30.6 million (AU$42.84 million) on its first day and reached US$87.6 million (AU$122.64 million) in net assets within a week.
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