Schwab Crypto launches BTC/ETH trading with low fees and Paxos custody
Charles Schwab announced a staged rollout of “Schwab Crypto,” a regulated platform that will let eligible customers trade Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) directly inside Schwab. The initial focus is BTC and ETH (together about three-quarters of total crypto market cap), with additional cryptocurrencies to follow later.
Schwab Crypto is also planning deposit and withdrawal transfer capabilities, enabling customers to move existing digital assets into their Schwab accounts. Schwab will support onboarding with education and research from the Schwab Center for Financial Research, plus Schwab Coaching, positioning crypto within a broader investing workflow.
For traders, pricing is a key headline: Schwab Crypto will charge 75 basis points per dollar value of each trade. Custody and execution will run through Paxos under a regulated trust model: clients hold a separate crypto account linked to their brokerage, Schwab Premier Bank acts as custodian, while Paxos handles sub-custody and trade execution.
Implication for markets: Schwab Crypto may reinforce the “institutional rails” narrative for BTC and ETH. Near-term price impact will likely depend on rollout timelines, liquidity, and execution quality, since this is not yet a full cross-coin expansion.
Bullish
Bullish for BTC and ETH price action, but not an immediate “all-clear” catalyst. Schwab Crypto’s staged rollout brings spot BTC/ETH trading into a mainstream brokerage workflow with a clear, trader-friendly fee headline (75 bps) and regulated custody/execution via Paxos. That can support incremental institutional and retail demand flows by reducing operational friction versus crypto exchanges.
In the short term, markets may react positively to the credibility of the custody/rails and the mainstream distribution channel, but follow-through depends on execution quality and liquidity once trading starts—any delays or thin spreads could mute the impact.
In the long term, if Schwab Crypto expands access and improves market depth, it could strengthen the structural bid for BTC and ETH. However, because the launch is initially limited to BTC/ETH (not cross-coin expansion), the effect is more likely to concentrate on BTC and ETH rather than lift the broader altcoin complex.