Charles Schwab is preparing to launch Bitcoin trading, according to CEO Rick Wurster in a recent CNBC interview, marking a significant move that puts the brokerage in direct competition with Coinbase.

“Our clients are invested in crypto today,” Wurster said. “In fact, our clients hold more than 20% of the exchange traded product crypto in the entire industry, so they’re invested.” 

Still, he noted Bitcoin and crypto assets make up just “about $25 billion out of the $10.8 trillion that our clients have, so it’s still relatively small.”

Wurster confirmed that the firm is “anticipating launching Bitcoin and ether, sometime soon so that our clients have access to that,” suggesting the new feature could become a major growth driver.

He pointed to strong customer demand as the key motivation behind the rollout. 

“What we hear from many of our clients are that they have 98% of their wealth here at Schwab, and they might hold a percent or 2% at some digital native firm to hold their crypto, and they really want to bring it back to Schwab because they trust us,” Wurster said. 

“They want it to sit alongside their other assets and so we think we’ll see some real growth when we bring those to market.”

Asked whether Schwab’s move would challenge Coinbase directly, Wurster responded decisively: “It absolutely would. If they’re buying their crypto at Coinbase, we would love to see them bring their crypto back to Schwab.”

The news coincides with President Trump’s signing of the GENIUS Act, a bill that will formalize regulatory oversight for stablecoins.

This development could further accelerate mainstream adoption of Bitcoin and encourage more financial giants like Schwab to enter the space.

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