Coinbase Prime Has 18 Months Before Schwab Comes for Its Advisor Book

Charles Schwab plans to launch spot crypto trading, transfers, and custody for financial advisors by mid-2027. The move would route trillions in registered investment advisor assets through one integrated platform rather than pure-play crypto custodians.

Schwab Advisor Services custodies more than $5 trillion for over 16,000 registered investment advisors.

Schwab Advisor Crypto Squeezes Pure-Play Custodians

The expansion was disclosed by Jalina Kerr, managing director at Schwab Advisor Services, during a media roundtable.

Advisors currently route client crypto allocations off-platform to specialized providers such as Coinbase Prime, BitGo, and Anchorage.

That setup creates fragmented reporting and parallel compliance workflows alongside traditional institutional custody providers.

Schwab’s planned product lets advisors trade, transfer, and safekeep digital assets on the platform holding their traditional book. The retail spot crypto trading rollout earlier in 2026 uses Paxos for sub-custody and execution.

Coinbase Prime oversees roughly $330 billion in institutional assets. The firm has built deep ties with managers including BlackRock’s institutional partnership.

A native Schwab option could pull RIA (Registered Investment Advisor allocations) off those rails.

“Looks like Schwab planning on rolling out *direct* spot crypto trading to *advisors* next year… We’re talking about the largest RIA custodian. Over $5tril in assets on custody platform,” Nate Geraci, President of The ETF Store, highlighted.

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Fidelity and the Custody Race

Fidelity Digital Assets already offers institutional custody and trade execution to advisors, family offices, and hedge funds. Schwab’s entry intensifies the threat to Coinbase and other crypto-native firms.

Kerr said advisors increasingly meet clients who already hold digital assets outside their accounts. These clients want positions consolidated into a regulated wealth platform.

The retail Bitcoin trading service started with Bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH). The advisor product is expected to follow a similar asset list.

The mid-2027 timeline reflects work on custody architecture, federal compliance, and trading infrastructure.

The ability of smaller custody specialists to defend pricing, onboarding speed, and integration depth against a bundled bank-and-broker offering is the main concern.

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