Charles Schwab, one of the largest U.S. brokerages, will introduce spot cryptocurrency trading for retail clients in the coming weeks, initially offering Bitcoin and Ether via a dedicated crypto account linked to its brokerage platform. The service will be accessible across Schwab’s web, mobile and Thinkorswim platforms. Custody of assets will be handled by Schwab’s banking unit, and trade execution will be carried out through a partnership with Paxos, a federally regulated trust company.
Schwab—reporting $12.22 trillion in total client assets as of February 2026—said the new offering will let clients trade and view crypto alongside stocks and other holdings. At launch, trading will be available for BTC and ETH at a fee of 75 basis points (0.75%) per transaction. Schwab plans to add more cryptocurrencies and enable deposits and withdrawals over time.
The 75-basis-point fee is higher than fees at some exchanges such as Kraken, which starts around 0.25%–0.40% and declines with volume, and broadly comparable to Coinbase’s lower-volume fee brackets of roughly 0.40%–0.60%, according to those exchanges’ published information.
Clients will access crypto services through a separate account with assets held under a custodial model by Schwab’s bank. The rollout will be phased over several weeks and initially available to eligible U.S. retail clients, excluding residents of New York and Louisiana.
Schwab said this expands its existing crypto-related offerings, which already include exchange-traded products, futures and funds tied to digital assets. Internally, the firm estimates its clients hold about 20% of spot crypto exchange-traded products.
Traditional financial firms continue to broaden crypto exposure across trading, ETFs and structured products. In April, Morgan Stanley launched a spot Bitcoin ETF (MSBT) that drew $30.6 million in inflows on its first day of NYSE Arca trading and reported total net assets of $87.6 million as of that Wednesday. Also in April, Goldman Sachs filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to launch a Bitcoin-linked ETF aimed at generating income via options strategies, offering indirect Bitcoin exposure while seeking to limit volatility.
At the same time, crypto-native firms are moving into traditional markets. In December, Coinbase added trading for equities and ETFs, and in February Kraken introduced regulated tokenized equity perpetual futures, providing leveraged exposure to U.S. stocks, indexes and commodities.
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