Brokerage providers big Charles Schwab plans to roll out spot cryptocurrency buying and selling within the first half of 2026, pushing it deeper into digital belongings.
“We stay on observe to launch our spot crypto supply within the first half of 2026, beginning with bitcoin and ether (ETH),” an organization spokesperson instructed CoinDesk on Friday.
The agency has opened a waitlist for shoppers looking for early entry to what it calls a “Schwab Crypto” account, which is able to permit customers to purchase and promote the 2 largest cryptocurrencies. The agency will supply the service by way of Charles Schwab Premier Financial institution, SSB.
The transfer builds on feedback from CEO Rick Wurster, who stated final July that Schwab aimed to introduce crypto buying and selling “someday quickly” in response to shopper demand. He framed the trouble as a strategy to convey digital belongings into the identical account view as shares and bonds in a push towards a extra unified funding platform.
Schwab’s scale might give it an edge because it enters a market lengthy dominated by crypto-native exchanges. The agency reported $11.9 trillion in shopper belongings in 2025, providing a built-in base of retail and institutional buyers who might desire buying and selling crypto inside a well-known brokerage setting relatively than utilizing standalone platforms.
The agency already permits shoppers to spend money on ETFs linked to cryptocurrencies and commerce bitcoin futures on its platform. It additionally launched the Schwab Crypto Thematic Index (STCE), an ETF that tracks the efficiency of firms linked to the digital asset sector.