Charles Schwab begins U.S. rollout of spot crypto trading for retail customers

Charles Schwab, the brokerage giant that manages around $12 trillion in client assets, began the rollout of its spot cryptocurrency trading service for retail customers in the U.S.

An initial group of clients can now trade bitcoin and ether ($ETH) on the Schwab Crypto platform, the company posted on X on Tuesday.

In July last year, CEO Rick Wurster said the company planned to introduce crypto trading in the near future, with a timeframe of first-half 2026 confirmed last month.

The Westlake, Texas-headquartered firm already offers crypto investments through exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and futures trading.

The ability to directly trade the actual assets through a company with the scale of Schwab could be a pivotal accelerator for mainstream crypto adoption.

As one of the largest brokerage firms in the world, Schwab could offer its roughly 35 million clients the opportunity to trade BTC and $ETH in an environment they already recognize rather than having to register with a standalone crypto exchange.