Charles Schwab to Add Avalanche (AVAX) to Schwab Crypto’s 39.9M-Account Platform

Schwab Expands Crypto Roster

Charles Schwab will add Avalanche (AVAX) to its Schwab Crypto trading platform alongside Solana and Chainlink, the brokerage confirmed Thursday in its official announcement. The three tokens become available “in the coming months,” though no firm launch date was given. The move marks the first expansion of Schwab Crypto’s roster beyond bitcoin and ether, which began reaching select retail clients in a phased rollout in May. Before that, Schwab customers could only access crypto through exchange-traded products or shares of companies such as Coinbase and Strategy — not by purchasing cryptocurrencies directly. Once live, clients will be able to buy and sell the new assets on Schwab’s website, its mobile app, and the thinkorswim trading platform. Each trade carries a fee of 75 basis points — 0.75%, or $7.50 on a $1,000 transaction — which the firm describes as among the industry’s lowest. Joe Vietri, Schwab’s head of digital assets, said the additions give clients “more choices” to build a digital asset allocation alongside the banking and investing experience they already use at Schwab, supported by education and resources for informed decisions. For Avalanche specifically, the listing places a chain built for application-specific blockchains in front of a mainstream retail audience; Solana competes on fast, inexpensive transactions that power on-chain payment and trading apps, while Chainlink feeds blockchains external data such as asset prices. Schwab first said in 2024 it would enter crypto once US regulations offered a clearer path, confirmed plans to launch with bitcoin and ether in April 2026, and began onboarding clients the following month. Eligible clients will trade the new tokens through the same Schwab Crypto account framework opened for bitcoin and ether earlier this year.

$13 Trillion Behind the Listing

Distribution is what separates this listing from a routine venue addition. Schwab held $13.04 trillion in client assets and 39.9 million active brokerage accounts at the end of July, so AVAX, SOL, and LINK will reach retirement and advisory capital that has never opened an account at a crypto-native exchange. Schwab Crypto operates through Charles Schwab Premier Bank, SSB, and while the brokerage presents its 75-basis-point rate as competitive, dedicated crypto venues generally charge less — readers weighing venues can compare our guide to the best crypto exchanges. Access is not universal: accounts are unavailable in New York and Louisiana and in US territories. The token list had been frozen at two assets since launch, making Thursday’s step the first test of how quickly Schwab scales its catalog. The company has been layering digital-asset exposure across its product stack, adding 24/7 crypto futures on bitcoin, ether, solana, and XRP through thinkorswim in June and preparing S&P 500 event contracts with Cboe. Chief executive Rick Wurster said in 2025 that Schwab wanted to explore offering a dollar-pegged stablecoin, though no such product has been announced. Schwab has committed to keep adding cryptocurrencies and digital assets over time, even as its disclosures still describe digital currencies as purely speculative instruments that are not deposits, not FDIC insured, and not protected by SIPC — language that tempers expectations for how the retail channel prices newly listed tokens. For AVAX, the change is in the composition of the buyer base rather than a short-term trading catalyst, a distinction worth holding onto when assessing the token’s reaction. Readers tracking the market in real time can follow live spot and futures prices on Binance.

Retail Distribution Meets Institutional Momentum

In our reading, the two threads of Thursday’s news point the same direction: Avalanche’s marginal buyer is shifting from short-horizon traders toward mainstream, buy-and-hold capital. The official press release frames the expansion as broadening digital asset allocation within a trusted banking relationship, and with $13.04 trillion under administration, that framing carries weight. It also lands as institutional activity on the network accelerates — our recent reporting tracked Avalanche (AVAX) RWA volume rising 360% against the prior period to $365M, and Delphi Digital highlighting Avalanche’s institutional growth as Progmat topped $1.2B, developments we follow in our ongoing Avalanche coverage. As decentralized finance and tokenized assets deepen on the chain, broker-channel distribution compounds that adoption curve. As color, AVAX’s spot price slipped 3.3% over the past 24 hours even as the listing news broke.