Charles Schwab shared details of the Schwab Crypto platform this week. Expected to roll out gradually in the coming weeks, the platform will allow clients to buy and sell Bitcoin and Ethereum through the same account infrastructure they use for stock and bond trading.
This move directly pits the company against Robinhood, which, while targeting a relatively young audience, has long offered stock and crypto trading under one roof, and is now adding additional financial services. Given Schwab's position as one of the world's largest brokerage firms with over $11 trillion in client assets, this move is attracting attention in the industry. Schwab Crypto accounts will be linked to existing brokerage accounts but will remain separate. The account will be offered under the Charles Schwab Premier Bank, SSB, which will be responsible for the storage and recording of digital assets. Sub-custody and transaction execution services will be handled by Paxos, an OCC-regulated blockchain infrastructure provider. The transaction fee is set at 0.75% of the dollar value of each trade. For comparison, Robinhood's commission-free trading is still a possibility. Coinbase, on the other hand, applies different rates depending on user tiers. The company positions this pricing among the lowest in the market for crypto trading among major brokerage firms.
Customers are interested in cryptocurrencies
So, is the timing of this decision a coincidence? Not really. Schwab has been openly stating for months that its customers are interested in crypto investing. With the Trump administration's regulatory stance towards the sector becoming more pronounced, traditional financial institutions that had previously been on the sidelines have begun to take action. Schwab is not alone in this respect: Morgan Stanley recently launched a spot Bitcoin ETF, and Goldman Sachs has applied for a Bitcoin income ETF.
Schab is actually no stranger to the crypto market. According to company data, Schwab customers currently hold approximately 20% of all spot crypto exchange-traded products. Existing access options on the platform include spot crypto ETPs, crypto futures, options on spot crypto ETPs, and crypto-focused mutual funds. The new platform adds direct spot trading to these.
Initially, only Bitcoin and Ethereum will be supported. The company plans to add more cryptocurrencies to the platform in the future and introduce transfer features that will allow deposits and withdrawals, enabling customers to move their digital asset holdings from elsewhere to Schwab.
The survey, conducted between July and September 2025, involved 460 crypto investors and potential investors. Participants highlighted three factors when choosing a crypto trading platform: low and transparent pricing, a familiar brand and trust, and the belief that digital assets will be kept safe. The market will show how competitive Schwab is in these three areas. Looking at the shares, they fell 2 percent following the company's quarterly financial results announced on Thursday. The crypto announcement did not offset this decline.
