Charles Schwab Bets Big on Crypto—Spot Trading Launch Imminent Within Year

Wall Street’s old guard finally caves to crypto FOMO. Schwab joins the party late—but with enough compliance firepower to make TradFi purists sweat.

The move signals a tectonic shift: even the most conservative custodians can’t ignore the $2T elephant in the room anymore. Expect a flood of boomer money chasing Bitcoin ETFs once those dusty Schwab terminals start executing real crypto trades.

Just don’t ask about their cold storage setup—some things are better left to the ’reckless’ crypto natives they spent a decade mocking.

Charles Schwab Planning Crypto Trading Launch, CEO Confirms

The landscape for cryptocurrencies as an asset class will forever change after 2025. Indeed, the United Kingdom announced a partnership with the US to help boost crypto adoption in the world. Moreover, there is no shortage of traditional finance companies that are looking to enter the high-potential sector.

With every passing week, even more financial sector firms are looking to get in on the digital asset sector. That has continued, as Charles Schwab is planning to launch spot crypto trading over the next 12 months. Indeed, the move was confirmed by CEO Rick Wurster in a recent earnings call.

“Our expectation is that with the regularly changing environment, we are hopeful and likely to be able to launch direct spot crypto [trading], and our goal is to do that in the next 12 months,” Wurster said. The executive took over the position in January and saw them through a 40% quarterly profits surge.

Amid a volatile market, Wurster noted that investors are looking to rebalance and diversify their portfolios. Moreover, crypto is set to play a big part in that, with many interested in redirecting to the asset class. “We saw a 400% increase in traffic to [Schwab’s crypto side] recently, 70% of whom were prospects,” Wurster noted.