Charles Schwab to Open Spot Crypto Trading Services to Retail Customers

BroadChain has learned that as of 8 PM on April 17, according to PANews, Charles Schwab has announced the launch of its spot cryptocurrency trading service, "Schwab Crypto." The service will be rolled out in phases to retail clients over the coming weeks, supporting direct trading of BTC and ETH while integrating with the firm's existing business operations. Separately, the NFT platform Foundation will gradually wind down operations due to incomplete sales transactions. While its platform infrastructure has been shut down, users retain on-chain control of their assets. In other news, the CEO of Polish crypto exchange Zonda revealed an address holding roughly 4,503 BTC, explaining that the private key for the associated cold wallet was not transferred by the former CEO during the leadership transition, leading to withdrawal difficulties. The company has denied any misappropriation of funds or bankruptcy. Publicly listed crypto mining firms sold more than 32,000 BTC in Q1 2026—surpassing their total sales for all of 2025. Morgan Stanley’s Head of Digital Assets noted that cryptocurrencies are becoming part of the firm’s “day-to-day business.” In security-related updates, Tether has frozen 3.29 million USDT in an address linked to the hacker behind the Rhea Finance exploit. Following the theft of approximately $296 million in assets, Drift Protocol plans to compensate users through a recovery pool established with partners including Tether, which has committed up to $127.5 million in support. Circle is facing a class-action lawsuit for allegedly failing to freeze stolen funds from Drift. A security researcher has warned that counterfeit Ledger hardware wallets are being sold on Chinese e-commerce platforms. Lastly, the Tennessee Strategic Bitcoin Reserve Act is scheduled for a Senate hearing on April 20.