Charles Schwab Goes Full DeFi Sommelier, Pours $AVAX $SOL $LINK On the Menu

Charles Schwab said Thursday it plans to add Solana ($SOL), Avalanche ($AVAX) and Chainlink ($LINK) to its Schwab Crypto platform in the coming months, expanding direct cryptocurrency trading for clients beyond Bitcoin ($BTC) and Ether ($ETH). The announcement was made on August 27 by the $13 trillion financial services firm, which first rolled out direct Bitcoin and Ethereum trading to retail clients in May.

"With this expansion, clients will have more choices to build a digital asset allocation alongside the investing and banking experience they know and trust at Schwab," Joe Vietri, Schwab's head of digital assets, said in a statement. "These additions are consistent with our approach to provide clients with access to familiar cryptocurrencies backed by an ecosystem of education, tools, resources, and support to make informed decisions about how crypto might fit into their broader investing goals."

Clients will be able to buy and sell the new tokens through Schwab's website, mobile app and thinkorswim platform. Each trade will carry a fee of 75 basis points, or 0.75%, which Schwab described as among the industry's lowest. The service is currently available in all U.S. states except New York and Louisiana, and is not offered in U.S. territories or internationally. Schwab Crypto accounts are provided through Charles Schwab Premier Bank, with Charles Schwab & Co. performing certain operational functions on the bank's behalf.

Solana is designed for fast, inexpensive transactions and hosts applications for trading, payments and gaming. Avalanche allows businesses and developers to create blockchains tailored to specific applications. Chainlink connects blockchains to outside information, supplying smart contracts with data such as asset prices. The company said it plans to add only established digital assets that align with client demand.

The crypto expansion coincides with Schwab's push into other new trading products. In June, The Wall Street Journal reported that Schwab plans to offer prediction contracts tied to the S&P 500 index through a partnership with Cboe Global Markets, allowing clients to wager on whether the index will close above or below a specified level. As of July 31, Schwab held $13.04 trillion in client assets across 39.9 million active brokerage accounts, reported record second-quarter net revenue of $7.1 billion, and posted net income of $2.8 billion. CEO Rick Wurster said in 2025 that Schwab wanted to explore offering a dollar-pegged stablecoin, though it has not announced one.