Charles Schwab is expanding its crypto asset business from retail to wealth management channels. The company plans to offer crypto spot trading, asset transfer, and custody services on its custody platform for financial advisors as early as mid-2027, although the launch date is subject to change.
Services extended to investment advisory platforms
This initiative will allow investment advisors to directly buy, sell, transfer, and hold crypto assets through Charles Schwab's existing wealth management infrastructure. For financial advisors who have long relied on a single platform to handle client account, asset transfer, and custody needs, this means that crypto assets are expected to be integrated into a more comprehensive account management process.
Jalina Kerr, Managing Director of Investment Advisory Services at Charles Schwab, stated in an online media briefing that the project is currently progressing according to the schedule of launching around mid-2027, but the timeline has not yet been finalized. Schwab currently manages over $10 trillion in client assets.
Retail operations have already been launched.
This investment advisory move builds upon Charles Schwab's cryptocurrency business, which it launched earlier this year for select US retail clients. Previously, Schwab had begun phased-out direct trading of Bitcoin and Ethereum.
Under the company's current arrangements, retail crypto accounts are provided by Charles Schwab Premier Bank, SSB, with Paxos handling trade execution and secondary custody. Clients can view their crypto assets alongside their traditional investment accounts on Schwab.com, Schwab Mobile, and thinkorswim.
Demand for direct hosting is rising
Jalina Kerr stated that financial advisors currently primarily gain crypto exposure through exchange-traded products. These products allow clients to track the crypto market within a familiar brokerage account system, without having to directly manage tokens or wallets.
However, an increasing number of advisors' clients already hold crypto assets on external platforms. Charles Schwab's current plan focuses on providing direct custody and asset transfer tools to meet this demand, rather than simply adding a trading platform.
As Charles Schwab expands its crypto advisory services, other major financial institutions are also extending their businesses in this area. Previously, it was reported that Morgan Stanley had launched a crypto trading pilot on ETrade, supporting Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana, with a fee of 0.5%, lower than Schwab's 75 basis point rate for retail crypto trading.
As of now, Charles Schwab has not disclosed details such as which tokens its investment advisory platform will support in the future, how its fees will be set, or the limits on asset transfers. Its retail platform initially only supports Bitcoin and Ethereum, but the company has stated that it will gradually add more crypto assets and transfer functionality.
