Crypto Exchanges
By Bruce Buterin
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Why Schwab Jumped In Now. Retail demand for crypto has been climbing. Hard. Investors kept asking for it, and Schwab finally…
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What This Means for Crypto Traders. Schwab's entry matters because of scale. The firm has roughly 35 million brokerage accounts.
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Charles Schwab started rolling out spot crypto trading last week. Bitcoin and ether, that's it for now. The platform went live for a small batch of U.S.
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The brokerage giant picked the two biggest coins by market cap to start. Makes sense. Bitcoin sits around $1.3 trillion in total value, ether trails somewhere near $400 billion.
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Schwab didn't give a timeline for expanding access. No dates, no user targets, nothing concrete. The company said it'll depend on how this initial phase goes.
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The platform itself is bare-bones for now. and only. No altcoins, no staking, no lending features. Just buy and sell. Schwab kept it simple, which makes sense for a first version.
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Fees weren't disclosed in the announcement. That's a big question mark. Coinbase charges around 0.6% for retail trades, Robinhood went commission-free to grab market share.
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Read also: eToro Hits $82M Net Income as Commodities Trading Overtakes Crypto Revenue
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One thing Schwab didn't mention: custody details. Who's holding the actual bitcoin and ether?
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The phased approach gives Schwab room to pivot. If early users report glitches or if market conditions tank, the firm can slow things down without a PR disaster.
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Schwab's move also signals something bigger: crypto's gone mainstream enough that even the most conservative brokerages can't ignore it anymore.
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No word yet on whether Schwab will add features like recurring buys, tax-loss harvesting for crypto, or integration with its robo-advisor platform.
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Related: Wall Streets 24 Biggest Names Now Offer Crypto Trading and Custody
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The initial user group is basically a live beta test. Schwab's collecting data on how clients interact with the platform, what trade sizes look like, and whether the…
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Schwab's crypto launch won't shake up the market overnight, but it's another brick in the wall of institutional adoption. The firm's playing it safe, which fits its brand.
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