Charles Schwab brings Bitcoin and Ether trading to its retail platform

The rollout, which began in May, marks a strategic effort to keep clients within the Schwab environment rather than relying on external crypto-native exchanges. While the service currently lacks deposit and withdrawal functionality, the brokerage has launched a pilot program for transfers and secured an equity stake in infrastructure provider Paxos to handle trade execution and sub-custody. CEO Rick Wurster noted that the initiative serves customers who prefer managing crypto alongside stocks, bonds, and cash, rather than maintaining separate applications for digital assets.

Competition among traditional financial firms is intensifying as they vie for a share of the crypto market. Schwab’s 75-basis-point fee sits between the roughly 1% spread charged by Fidelity and the 0.5% fee offered by Morgan Stanley’s E*Trade, which recently expanded its own crypto offerings to include Solana. Despite recent fluctuations in crypto market volume and a shift in investor interest toward AI-driven equities, Schwab remains committed to its long-term roadmap. The firm is already preparing to extend these digital asset services to its advisor platform by mid-2027, potentially allowing wealth managers to oversee client crypto holdings with the same tools used for traditional securities.