Charles Schwab, the brokerage giant that manages about $12 trillion in client assets, began rolling out its spot cryptocurrency trading service to retail clients in the U.S.
An initial group of customers can now trade bitcoin and ether (ETH) on the Schwab Crypto platform, the company announced on X Tuesday.
Last July, CEO Rick Wurster said the company planned to introduce crypto trading in the near future, with a timeframe of the first half of 2026 confirmed last month.
The Westlake, Texas headquarters already offers crypto investments through exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and futures trading.
The ability to directly trade the actual assets through a company of Schwab’s scale could be a crucial accelerator for mainstream crypto adoption.
As one of the largest brokerage firms in the world, Schwab was able to offer its approximately 35 million customers the opportunity to trade BTC and ETH in an environment they already recognize instead of having to register with an independent crypto exchange.
