Charles Schwab plans to launch Bitcoin and Ethereum spot trading services in the first half of this year

Mars Finance News. On April 4, U.S. brokerage giant Charles Schwab announced that it plans to launch cryptocurrency spot trading services in the first half of 2026 through its banking subsidiary, supporting the buying and selling of Bitcoin and Ethereum. It is reported that the service will be provided through “Schwab Crypto” accounts. A customer waitlist is already open, and users must already hold a Schwab Securities account in order to apply. The company’s CEO, Rick Wurster, said the move is intended to meet customer demand, and to integrate digital assets with traditional assets such as stocks and bonds into a unified account view. It is worth noting that this crypto business will be operated by the banking subsidiary; the related assets are neither protected by the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC) nor covered by Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) deposit insurance. In addition, the service will not initially cover certain parts of the U.S., including New York and the state of Louisiana. Currently, Schwab has already offered crypto-related products such as a Bitcoin ETF and futures. With spot trading going live directly, the market generally believes that this move will further drive the integration of crypto assets into the mainstream financial system and could create potential pressure on the fee structures of native crypto trading platforms such as Coinbase.