Charles Schwab begins rollout of spot BTC, ETH trading for U.S. 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.