In brief
- Charles Schwab is expected to launch spot buying of Bitcoin and Ethereum this quarter.
- The firm will start with a limited rollout before an expanded release, CEO Rick Wurster recently said.
- Last year, the financial giant also indicated it had an interest in working with stablecoins.
Financial services firm Charles Schwab won’t make its members wait much longer to buy spot Bitcoin and Ethereum and hold crypto on its platform.
A newly launched cryptocurrency page under the firm’s “Investment Products” dropdown on the website indicates that Schwab Crypto “is coming soon.” A company spokesperson confirmed to Decrypt that the spot offering is imminent.
“We remain on track to launch our spot crypto offer in the first half of 2026, starting with Bitcoin and [Ethereum],” a representative for the firm told Decrypt, adding that interested parties could sign up for updates and potential early access online.
This follows remarks from CEO Rick Wurster in early March, who told Barron’s that the offering would start in a limited rollout in Q2, with a larger expansion to follow.
A signup form indicates that only U.S. residents will be able to access Schwab Crypto, with the exception of those in New York and Louisiana. The move would mark a major step in crypto adoption for Schwab, which boasts more than $12.2 trillion in assets under management.
The firm currently offers a few ways to get exposure to crypto, including via exchange-traded products or through crypto-related stocks, like American crypto exchange Coinbase (COIN) and Bitcoin treasury firm Strategy (MSTR), which it uses as examples.
The firm, which had previously indicated that it was waiting for regulatory clarity to dip its toes further into the world of crypto, also has recently expressed interest in stablecoin exposure. Last year, Wurster said the Westlake, Texas-based firm would like to get exposure to stablecoins, a burgeoning sector of the crypto economy.
“Stablecoins are likely to play a role in transacting on blockchains and that’s something we do want to be able to offer,” he said during an earnings call.
Shares in the firm (SCHW) closed Thursday up more than 1.5%, changing hands around $93.77, about a 19% gain in the last year of trading. It’s an outperformance when compared to crypto’s largest asset, Bitcoin, which has fallen 18.5% during that time.
Bitcoin was recently changing hands around $66,864 on Friday, down 47% from its all-time high of $126,080. Meanwhile, Ethereum is trading near $2,052, down nearly 59% from its all-time high set last August.
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