Largest US Broker to Launch Cryptocurrency Trading
Charles Schwab, the largest investment brokerage in the United States, has finally announced its entry into the cryptocurrency market. According to Rick Wurster, the company's new CEO, the broker will offer spot buying and selling of cryptocurrencies.
Citing improvements in the regulatory environment and growing optimism in the Donald Trump administration, Wurster stated that they are looking to offer cryptocurrency trading services. The new CEO clarified that the prospect of an improvement in the regulatory environment for cryptocurrencies in the US motivated the company's decision.
The increasing maturity of the cryptocurrency market through institutional participation grew in 2024, especially with the approval of ETFs in January. And with the election of Donald Trump as president, the market expects new laws to be approved that benefit companies in the sector.
Charles Schwab enters cryptocurrency trading
Wurster stated that Charles Schwab has always had an eye on the cryptocurrency market, but that he expected greater regulatory clarity. With Trump's election, the company believes the time is good to start offering services.
“We will enter cryptocurrencies spot when the regulatory environment changes, and we anticipate that it will change, and we are preparing for that eventuality,” said Wurster.
Donald Trump's team is willing to have a White House position for a cryptocurrency leader, reporting directly to the president. The latest report shows that former Futures and Commodities Trading Commission (CFTC) Chairman Chris Giancarlo will be leading the role of cryptocurrency czar in the White House.
After Gary Gensler announced that he will step down as chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), markets are eagerly awaiting the announcement of the next SEC chairman. Reports suggest that former SEC Commissioner Paul Atkins, a well-known cryptocurrency advocate, is among the top names for this position.
Charles Schwab already offered Bitcoin ETFs for trading to its clients, but will now allow direct trading. After Fidelity, the company is the second major US brokerage to offer this service.
With more than 34 million active brokerage accounts both in the U.S. and abroad, the company also manages more than $7.65 trillion in total client assets.
Strong competition
However, Charles Schwab will face stiff competition from companies with a greater focus on digital. Two of them are the broker Robinhood Markets and Webull, which serve small investors. As they don't have as many clients, these brokers offer the advantage of zero fees on their trades. Robinhood stepped up its game by re-listing XRP, Solana (SOL), and Cardano (ADA) last week.
Therefore, as the market for attracting retail investments becomes competitive, the Schwab group must look for avenues to explore. Top asset managers like BlackRock have already made the move by launching their Bitcoin ETF this year.
BlackRock's IBIT witnessed resounding success, recording over $30 billion in inflows in the first eleven months. It is already bigger than the gold ETF managed by the same BlackRock.
In the sights of the Trump administration
Earlier today, the Bitcoin (BTC) price rally continued, with BTC reaching a new all-time high of $99,502. Looking at current developments in the cryptocurrency market, Charles Schwab CEO Rick Wurster offered a “mea culpa”.
“Cryptocurrencies have certainly caught the attention of many, and they have made a lot of money doing so. I didn’t buy cryptocurrencies, and now I feel silly,” he admitted.
Wurster said he has no immediate plans to invest in cryptocurrencies, but expressed support for Schwab clients who decide to invest. The executive also stated that he intends to optimize negotiations by making Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools available in the future.
“It used to be that 60,000 times a month, we would have a phone representative spending more than three minutes searching for information to answer a customer question. Now, we have built an AI that finds this information in seconds,” he said.