Charles Schwab, a brokerage and investment company, announced on Thursday a phased launch of spot crypto trading offers, targeting its retail clients over the coming weeks. The offering under Schwab Crypto will provide direct access to Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) trading in addition to educational and insights content from the company’s research hub.
Charles Schwab expands investment services with spot crypto trading
The newly formed Schwab Crypto will offer retail investors direct access to spot Bitcoin and Ethereum trading alongside the brokerage’s existing investment services. Jonathan Craig, Head of Retail Investing at Charles Schwab, said in the press release that the firm is committed to providing a holistic experience beyond trading.
Additional services will include in-depth digital asset education and resources, ranging from insights to commentary, provided by the Schwab Center for Financial Research. With targeted coaching and crypto-focused content, Charles Schwab believes retail traders will better understand the sector.
Schwab has committed to expanding its digital offerings to include other cryptocurrencies in the future, as well as adding support for both deposit and withdrawal transactions.
Clients are required to maintain a separate crypto account with Charles Schwab Premier Bank (CSPB) and to directly link their brokerage accounts. The CSPB will provide custody for customers’ digital assets.
Paxos, a regulated blockchain platform, has been chosen to provide sub-custody and trade execution services.
About Charles Schwab
Charles Schwab is a United States (US)-based financial services firm that provides a full-service platform for investment, wealth management and banking. The company operates both as a brokerage and a bank, catering to a wide range of clients, including individual investors, independent advisors and institutions.
Schwab is not new to offering digital investment services, as clients currently access crypto-based Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs). The company manages over $11 trillion in client assets as of April, including its Crypto Thematic ETF.
Bitcoin, altcoins, stablecoins FAQs
Bitcoin is the largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, a virtual currency designed to serve as money. This form of payment cannot be controlled by any one person, group, or entity, which eliminates the need for third-party participation during financial transactions.
Altcoins are any cryptocurrency apart from Bitcoin, but some also regard Ethereum as a non-altcoin because it is from these two cryptocurrencies that forking happens. If this is true, then Litecoin is the first altcoin, forked from the Bitcoin protocol and, therefore, an “improved” version of it.
Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies designed to have a stable price, with their value backed by a reserve of the asset it represents. To achieve this, the value of any one stablecoin is pegged to a commodity or financial instrument, such as the US Dollar (USD), with its supply regulated by an algorithm or demand. The main goal of stablecoins is to provide an on/off-ramp for investors willing to trade and invest in cryptocurrencies. Stablecoins also allow investors to store value since cryptocurrencies, in general, are subject to volatility.
Bitcoin dominance is the ratio of Bitcoin’s market capitalization to the total market capitalization of all cryptocurrencies combined. It provides a clear picture of Bitcoin’s interest among investors. A high BTC dominance typically happens before and during a bull run, in which investors resort to investing in relatively stable and high market capitalization cryptocurrency like Bitcoin. A drop in BTC dominance usually means that investors are moving their capital and/or profits to altcoins in a quest for higher returns, which usually triggers an explosion of altcoin rallies.
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