Charles Schwab has activated direct cryptocurrency trading for roughly 40 million brokerage accounts as of August 13, allowing clients to buy and sell Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) alongside stocks and bonds. The rollout, reported by Forbes, follows the firm’s second-quarter signal that its crypto expansion was “going as planned.”
The service is live in 48 U.S. states, with New York and Louisiana excluded, and carries a trading fee of 0.75%. Schwab oversees more than $12 trillion in total client assets, making it one of the largest U.S. financial firms to offer direct spot crypto trading. Under the hood, Charles Schwab Premier Bank acts as custodian, while Paxos, an OCC-regulated blockchain infrastructure company, handles sub-custody and trade execution.
“We know our clients want to conduct more of their financial lives at Schwab,” said Jonathan Craig, Schwab’s Head of Retail Investing. The company has also indicated plans to expand its crypto lineup beyond BTC and ETH and eventually support token migration from outside wallets and exchanges.
Schwab initially offered indirect crypto exposure through spot Bitcoin and Ether exchange-traded products, futures, options, and related funds. Its May rollout reached about 39.1 million retail clients, and Head of Digital Assets Joe Vietri said Schwab aims to become “the destination of choice for retail investors who want to incorporate digital assets into their portfolios with confidence.” The firm says its clients already hold roughly 20% of all spot crypto ETPs.
Despite the launch, Schwab has maintained a cautious research tone. An April report noted that even a 1% to 3% allocation to Bitcoin or Ether can account for an outsized share of portfolio risk, warning that crypto is speculative and that both assets have fallen more than 70% in past cycles.
The move is part of a broader Wall Street embrace of crypto. Morgan Stanley has opened crypto trading on its E-Trade platform, and Goldman Sachs has filed for a Bitcoin Premium Income ETF. The launches land as Congress works on the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, which would divide oversight between the SEC and the CFTC and set federal rules for tokens, stablecoins, and DeFi.
