Charles Schwab launches Bitcoin transactions, targeting Coinbase users directly

CEO Rick Wurster said Charles Schwab is ready to enter the Bitcoin trading space, speaking in a new interview with CNBC. Wurster discusses Charles Schwab as a direct competitor to Coinbase.

“Our customers invested in cryptocurrencies today,” Worst said. “In fact, our customers have over 20% of the exchange-traded product cryptocurrencies across the industry, so they invested.” Still, he noted that cryptocurrencies currently represent “only $25 billion of the $10.8 trillion our customers own, so it’s still relatively small.”

Wurster revealed that Charles Schwab “expected to launch Bitcoin and Ether in the near future so that our customers can access it.” He added that the product could serve as a key growth driver for the company.

Wurster explained that customer needs are driving decisions. “What we hear from many clients is that they have 98% of their wealth in Schwab, and they might hold 1% or 2% of their wealth in a digital homegrown company to hold cryptocurrencies, and they really want to bring it back to Schwab because they trust us,” West said. “They want it to sit with other assets, so we think we’re seeing some real growth when we bring them to the market.”

When asked if Schwab would compete directly with Coinbase, Wurster was clear: “Absolutely. If they bought cryptocurrencies in Coinbase, we would love to see them bring their cryptocurrencies back to Schwab.”

The announcement comes the same day that President Trump plans to sign the Genius Act as law. The legislation will create a regulatory framework for stablecoins, which some believe will lead to an increase in BTC transaction volume, further encouraging traditional financial companies like Schwab to embrace Bitcoin.