BroadChain has learned that on April 5, Charles Schwab announced its banking subsidiary, Charles Schwab Premier Bank, will enable direct trading of BTC and ETH via a new Schwab Crypto account.
According to CEO Rick Wurster, the service is slated for a limited pilot in the second quarter of 2026, with a full launch expected in the first half of the same year.
A waitlist is now open for the initial rollout, which will cover most U.S. states—excluding New York and Louisiana.
Eligibility requires an existing Charles Schwab brokerage account. In the initial phase, the service will not support external cryptocurrency deposits or withdrawals.
As of February, Charles Schwab reported total client assets of $12.22 trillion across 38.9 million active brokerage accounts.