Charles Schwab is set to begin spot Bitcoin and Ethereum trading

Charles Schwab, the US brokerage firm with $10.7 trillion under management, is set to roll out spot Bitcoin and Ethereum trading. According to the company’s CEO, Rick Wurster, both BTC and ETH will become meaningful long-term growth drivers for the company.

Wurster initially revealed Schwab’s plans to start spot crypto trading last November and reiterated the plans in the firm’s Spring 2025 Business Update. At the time, he said that the deployment would depend on a better regulatory environment in the US.

“Our expectation is that with the changing regulatory environment, we are hopeful and likely to be able to launch direct spot crypto and our goal is to do that in the next 12 months and we’re on a great path to be able to do that,” Wurster said. 

In addition to trading services, Wurster revealed that Schwab plans to launch a stablecoin. He said the firm is exploring multiple pathways to deliver this stablecoin. This suggests openness to partnerships, in-house development, or leveraging existing blockchain infrastructure.

“Stablecoins are likely to play a role in transacting on blockchains, and that’s something we do want to be able to offer,” he said. “We will have a stablecoin at some point.”

The statement comes after the GENIUS Act,  which is meant to regulate stablecoins, was passed on Thursday by the US House.

Spot crypto trading volume dropped in Q2

Charles Schwab’s interest in crypto trading comes as spot crypto volume fell by 22% in the second quarter of 2025. Crypto spot trading volumes on major centralized exchanges (CEXs) fell from $5.3 trillion in Q4 2024 to $4.6 trillion in Q1 2025 and then fell even more to $3.6 trillion in Q2, according to data from TokenInsight.

Bitcoin’s price increased significantly in Q2, reaching 25% gain. This was due to inflows into Bitcoin funds and more companies using it. This is a big change from the 12% drop in Q1. However, Bitcoin dominance, at the same time, dropped by 4.36% over the past week to 61.84%.

Meanwhile, Ether spot Ethereum exchange-traded funds saw their most significant daily net inflow on Wednesday, totaling $726.74 million. The inflows were led by $499 million into BlackRock’s ETHA, with eight out of nine ether funds reporting positive daily flows.

Following the news today, Charles Schwab will join the London-based international banking group Standard Chartered, which launched a US dollar-paired Bitcoin and Ether spot trading service for institutional clients this week, including corporates, investors, and asset managers.

Charles Schwab benefited from Trump’s tariffs

Charles Schwab also revealed today that it benefited from a surge in trading activity around President Trump’s tariffs. The brokerage’s profits rose 60% in the quarter compared to a year ago.

Also, late-quarter market bounce not only increased the amount of money that brokerages managed, but it also allowed companies like Schwab to charge higher fees.

Schwab posted adjusted earnings per share of $1.14 while total client assets climbed 14% to $10.76 trillion. According to a statement, this is in comparison to the same period last year. Revenue from client trades also jumped 23% to $952 million.

For the three months ending June 30, Charles Schwab made $2.13 billion, or $1.08 per share. This is in comparison to the $1.33 billion, or 66 cents per share, in the year-ago quarter. Daily average revenue trades just barely beat analysts’ expectations at 7.57 million. 

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