Charles Schwab Sets Mid-2027 Target for Bitcoin Advisor and Crypto Spot Trading
Charles Schwab, the country’s largest provider of registered investment advisors, is poised to release cryptocurrency trading, transfer, and custody services on its advisor channel by mid-2027 — a move that could reshape the way billions of dollars flow into digital assets through professional wealth management.
This was revealed at Schwab’s Advisor Services Midyear Media Roundtable on May 28, where Jalina Kerr, Managing Director and Head of Advisor Experience, confirmed the timeline.
The advisor product is different from what Schwab rolled out to retail customers this spring. In April 2026, the bank announced Schwab Crypto™, a Bitcoin trading service for individual brokerage account holders, developed through Charles Schwab Premier Bank and executed through sub-custodian Paxos.
That product launched at 75 points per trade, sparked controversy over whether advisers would find it more expensive than crypto ETFs, and was banned for New York and Louisiana residents.
Building a 2027 advisor is a different animal. Registered investment advisors need storage infrastructure – the ability to hold client assets in segregated accounts with full recordkeeping, reporting, and compliance integration.
That means Schwab isn’t just adding a trade button. The firm needs to wire local crypto to the same repository the 16,000+ advisory firms already use for equity, fixed income, and other options.
Kerr noted that advisors currently deliver client crypto exposure through exchange-traded products on the platform, but the need for direct access has increased significantly.
Why the Schwab advisor channel changes everything
The story of retail crypto has been told for years – apps, wallets, exchanges, ETFs. The consultant station is where the next phase of institutional discovery comes into play. RIAs collectively manage the most volatile assets on the stock market, and their clients tend to be high-net-worth, long-term holders who want crypto kept within the same account view as their stock and bond portfolios.
Schwab’s platform maintains approximately $10 trillion in assets across its advisory network, making even a small allocation switch to eye crypto a large-scale streaming event.
Competitive forces are also changing rapidly. Fidelity Digital Assets already offers crypto custody and trading solutions to wealth managers, giving you a head start. Anchorage Digital has entered the RIA market with its acquisition of Securitize For Advisors. Coinbase Prime has built such an institutional infrastructure that Schwab’s entry would be a challenge.
Kerr himself pointed out a fundamental contradiction: digital assets are not regulated in the same way as traditional trading products and securities. Each step of the custody chain – from deposit to withdrawal – requires careful legal and compliance review.
The bank must define which digital assets are eligible, establish standards for safekeeping, and satisfy bank-level and merchant-level regulations simultaneously, as Charles Schwab Premier Bank operates as a retail product custodian.
The mid-2027 target reflects this fact. It’s a committed internal guide, not an inspection language — a logical difference from the “space surveillance” posture central banks have maintained for years.
CEO Rick Wurster has previously discussed Schwab’s desire to buy crypto if the valuation is aligned with strategic goals, and has floated the possibility of a stablecoin, suggesting that the 2027 advisor’s launch sits within the creation of a larger digital asset rather than an independent initiative.
