Charles Schwab Launches Schwab Crypto for Retail BTC, ETH

Charles Schwab has begun a phased rollout of Schwab Crypto, a platform that lets retail clients buy and sell spot Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) through dedicated crypto accounts linked to their brokerage accounts. The company confirmed the service followed a waitlist earlier in the quarter and that the rollout will continue over the coming weeks.

At launch, trading is limited to BTC and ETH and carries a fee of 0.75% per transaction. Charles Schwab Premier Bank will act as custodian for the crypto accounts, while Paxos will handle trade execution.

Customers cannot deposit existing crypto holdings into Schwab accounts or withdraw digital assets at launch; any BTC or ETH traded must be purchased directly through Schwab. The platform will not be available to residents of New York and Louisiana at rollout.

The crypto accounts link to customers' traditional brokerage accounts to provide a consolidated view of holdings. The platform offers direct spot exposure to BTC and ETH rather than the indirect exposure previously available through exchange-traded products and derivatives.

Schwab reported $12.22 trillion in client assets and nearly 39 million active brokerage accounts in early 2026. The company plans to add more tokens and enable transfers into and out of Schwab accounts but provided no timeline for those upgrades.