This is really exciting news. With nearly $12 trillion in assets and around 46 million accounts, having direct access to BTC and ETH would be huge for mainstream brokerage and crypto integration. Customers will need to set up new crypto accounts through Charles Schwab Premier Bank, SSB. This offering will be for US residents only, and unfortunately not available in New York and Louisiana, as each case will be reviewed for eligibility.
Clients will get the chance to buy and sell Bitcoin and Ethereum straight up, which is different from ETFs or Futures. This is what spot trading is all about, and it means a lot for the space.
Many people are interested but feel unsure or intimidated by how they work and how to use them. This could be a positive development for them as well.
Many people still don't know that there is a forum called Bitcoin BTC Talk where you can learn a lot about it!
Once this is integrated, most traditional banking users will know how it works and how to use it. Because after registering on their apps, they will release guides to help their customers understand the risks and how to hold them accountable for better profits.
Banks can guide them because they have to. Otherwise, their customers would lose big if they were controlling their accounts by themselves, because I think banks will introduce some programs where customers will love to give away their money to them for constant profits.
Better for them would be to learn to trade besides the Bank or institutions at all.
It's all a nice wrap for more exposure to crypto -> while giving your custody away here and there.
I would like to trade on cryptocurrency exchanges which have been in this market for years with experience, good security and reputation like Binance, OKX rather than buying and selling BTC and ETH direclty on Charles Schwab Premier Bank.
They can be a big bank but with lack of experience in cryptocurrency market, I can not believe in their security system for their very first products in this market. Storing my money on a centralized exchange is already risky, and doing it on an inexperienced bank in crypto market is more dangerous. Because there are many other better options for me, I don't like this option with Charles Schwab Premier Bank.
Reminder: do not keep your money in online accounts.
Compared to Binance and OKX, Charles Schwab Premier Bank appears more secure, especially since such services are highly regulated and rely on third-party services for buying and securing Bitcoin (mostly Coinbase).
The only difference is that when you withdraw Bitcoin to your wallet, you have complete control, and no one can "freeze" your balance.
Im curious what this means exactly and how it will be different from buying ETFs. Will we be able to buy and withdraw the Bitcoin? Will we be able to make deposits? Will there be no management fee to hold the Bitcoin? I guess well see soon enough.
Yes BlackRock had 14 Trillion USD asset under management already opened the tab for bitcoin ETF now everyone is gather around and want to piece of pie of Bitcoin and I would say this is good news. I read the article Schwab's move is driven by both market demand and regulatory developments. Clients increasingly want the ability to trade digital assets within the same platform they use for traditional investments.
I wonder when the Bigbank or those public company started to have Bitcoin Reserve like Tesla and Startegy did
While talking about the trillions of $ that some company or bank manages, don't forget that out of all those trillions of $, only a small part went to Bitcoin. If we take the example of BlackRock, which manages around $14 trillion, then we should take into account that all ETFs (US) together have attracted only around 1% of that amount, which speaks volumes that the number of those who want to invest in Bitcoin is very small.
People are interested in and excited with such news because they think it will bring Bitcoin to the main stream. They expect that such companies will bring enough new users and capital into Bitcoin market and effects on short term or long term will be huge while most of them thinking more about short term effects. Because with people who have long-term mindset, they won't feel too much excited in short term, and don't try to speculate price effect and movement or target in short term.
Anyone who think of short term price effects and possible bullish movements very likely have short term mindset only.
That's the main difference that most people don't understand and because of that they keep their money on the online wallets of the exchanges. The ones who understand things better keep their Bitcoin in their own personal wallets but at least having Charles Schwab in crypto market is a big plus I guess for many people especially for the ones living in the US.
Good reality check. The headline numbers always sound massive but the actual allocation tells a different story. 1% from BlackRock's AUM still sounds like a lot in dollar terms but it shows that the majority of traditional investors aren't rushing in the way crypto twitter likes to believe.
Schwab's move is more about not being left behind than it is about some massive wave of new capital coming in. Most of their clients probably won't touch the crypto option at all.
Well, maybe bullish, but not as bullish as when the first time one of its kind entered the market. This isn't big news anymore today. Charles Schwab's entry came at a time when there are already a number of competitors that have earlier joined the market. Intense excitement usually happens from 0 to 1, not from 1 to many.
Does Charles Schwab really offer "something out of the ordinary"? Haven't Fidelity and Robinhood, for example, offered direct trading already?
It is always most exciting when things are done a first time in anything, like a first Peer to Peer transaction between Satoshi Nakamoto and Hal Finney, a first trade of bitcoin for pizza, a first Bitcoin exchange, first Bitcoin Futures CME and CBOE in 2017, and first Bitcoin Spot ETFs in January 2024 for example. Later ones are similar to first ones are no longer similarly exciting with the people.
Charles Schwab is just another late comer in this market, so they will not create similar big excitement like first ones but they will still have contributions for Bitcoin adoption and this market growth.
Like it's always good for Bitcoin market to have new users, new investors, new traders, it's simple and undeniable.
It's as if most of those involved in investing don't know that Bitcoin exists, so we should be happy that one more bank in the series wants its share of the pie. It seems to me that people are more encouraged by this kind of news because they believe that the fact that a bank or company has this attitude towards Bitcoin (and alts) means that their investments in it are safer. For me, things are much simpler because I recognized the value that Bitcoin has even while those people believed that it would disappear in a few months or years.
The numbers show that most investors think that investing in Bitcoin is risky, so it doesn't matter if it's an ordinary person or someone who is extremely rich. The truth is that if you go out into the street of a city and ask 100 people to explain Bitcoin to you in a few sentences, 9 out of 10 people will not be able to do it. How then can you expect these same people to invest in what they do not understand.
That street test analogy is spot on and honestly undersells it. Even among people who have heard of Bitcoin, most couldn't tell you how it actually works beyond "digital money." And that knowledge gap is a real barrier, not just a perception one.
Though I'd say this is also exactly why platforms like Schwab entering the space matters in the long run. Not because it brings a flood of capital immediately, but because it normalizes Bitcoin sitting next to stocks and bonds in the same app people already use. Understanding tends to follow familiarity over time, not the other way around.
People can actually learn about Bitcoin, use Bitcoin blockchain but they possibly are bad at education and explanation on what Bitcoin is to the other people. It's not big problem because there are always many available resources to learn about Bitcoin online. People don't have only option to learn about Bitcoin with face to face teaching by anyone, it's only one of many available learning opportunities.
This one is a simple explanation on Bitcoin https://www.lopp.net/bitcoin-information/bitcoin-explained.html
I still do not have the answers to these questions. I guess I could ask AI, but I'm not sure I would get a proper correct answer.
I genuinely don't know the difference between an exchange allowing spot Bitcoin trading vs allowing the use of an ETF. Is it just a made up "spot" vehicle on their platform that is the same as an ETF in every way except no fees? That's sort of what I'm thinking...