Charles Schwab Prepares its First Crypto Product to 33 million clients

The asset management company, Schwab Asset Management, has announced its plans to offer an in-house crypto product to its 33 million clients. Labeled the “Schwab Crypto Economy ETF” (Exchange-Traded Fund), the product is said to be a vehicle that tracks equities engaged with digital assets.

Last Wednesday, the company filed a prospectus with the SEC stating that it will invest in “stocks that are included in the Schwab Crypto Economy Index.” Additionally, the index will include miners, exchanges, blockchain developers, and other crypto companies. Simply put, the planned ETF will expose Schwab’s client base to the crypto economy, though not to any coins. With this recent move, Schwab has joined other financial institutions in their gradual acceptance of crypto.

“The reason they’re doing it is that all of their customers are asking them how they can get exposure to crypto,” Bitwise Chief Investment Officer Matt Hougan told CoinDesk, calling it a “milestone.”

“A crypto equity product – it’s the first step. It’s the crawl in the ‘crawl, walk, run,’” he said.

Schwab adds to this point as it recently conducted a retail client sentiment survey. The survey found that ~20% of their clients have invested in crypto in the past three months, while 16% said that they planned to do so again.

According to a Schwab representative, clients have been able to invest in crypto through the company via third-party products like the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust.

“Clients approved for futures trading can trade bitcoin futures, too,” Schwab said.

Source: Coindesk