Schwab Opens Bitcoin, Ether Trading to All Eligible Clients

Charles Schwab has opened its Schwab Crypto service to all eligible clients and begun allowing customers to transfer crypto holdings onto the brokerage’s platform. The expanded access was announced Oct. 15, five months after the service launched for an initial group of retail customers.

Clients can buy and sell Bitcoin and Ether through their Schwab accounts. Schwab is gradually enabling inbound transfers of existing crypto holdings. Deposits are currently supported on the Bitcoin and Ethereum networks.

Customers must register withdrawal addresses before transferring funds and wait 24 hours before using a newly added address. Schwab has not confirmed that inbound transfers are available to every eligible client. It has not announced outbound crypto transfers.

The service charges 0.75% per trade and does not add a separate spread. Charles Schwab Premier Bank serves as custodian, while Paxos Trust Company provides sub-custody and trade execution services.

Schwab plans to add Solana, Avalanche and Chainlink by the end of 2026. The company identified the three assets in August after initially saying it expected to expand the list in the coming months.

During Schwab’s Fall Business Update webcast on Oct. 15, CEO Rick Wurster described the rollout: “All clients can now access Schwab Crypto.” He grouped crypto with other newer transaction-revenue businesses the company is developing, including prediction markets.

Schwab opened a waitlist for the service in April and gave its first retail customers access to Bitcoin and Ether in May. The October rollout expanded access from that initial group to the full eligible client base and added the ability to transfer existing crypto holdings onto the platform.

Schwab ended September with $13.33 trillion in client assets and 48.6 million client accounts, according to its third-quarter earnings release. The company does not report crypto revenue separately. Its $1.2 billion in third-quarter trading revenue cannot be attributed specifically to digital-asset activity.

Crypto assets held through Schwab Crypto do not have FDIC or SIPC protection. The service is unavailable in New York, Louisiana, U.S. territories and international markets.