Schwab Wants to Offer Stablecoin Amid Expanding Crypto Services Push: CEO

Charles Schwab would like to issue its own stablecoin, its CEO Rick Wurster told analysts in an earnings call Friday, adding the firm to a growing list of traditional finance giants exploring the tokens as the U.S. prepares to enshrine stablecoin regulation into law. 

"Stablecoins are likely to play a role in transacting on blockchains and that's something we do want to be able to offer,” Wurster said. 

The executive's comment on offering a dollar-pegged token comes as Schwab aims to deepen its foray into crypto. Its team is preparing to launch spot Bitcoin and Ethereum ETF trading for its clients, according to the call. The brokerage giant, which manages more than $7 trillion in assets, has been cautious about adding crypto investment options to its offerings. 

The Westlake, Texas-based company is the latest large financial services firm to express interest in entering the more than $250 billion stablecoin market. Citigroup announced similar plans earlier this week in a post-earnings call with analysts. On Tuesday, JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon also revealed developing a stablecoin is top of mind for his financial services firm, despite his reservations about the tokens’ usefulness.  

Schwab's consideration comes as the U.S. is poised to adopt a regulatory framework for fiat-pegged digital currencies that could massively boost their adoption. 

U.S. President Donald Trump will sign the Genius Act, a stablecoin-focused market structure bill, into law on Friday. 

The stablecoin market is projected to grow to roughly $750 billion by 2030, according to a recent forecast from Geoffrey Kendrick, the global head of digital assets research at U.K.-based bank Standard Chartered. 

Crypto-native firms currently dominate the emerging market. Tether is the largest stablecoin issuer, processing $179.3 billion transactions in the last 24 hours, according to data provider CoinMarketCap. U.S. based Circle is its closest competitor, with $28.2 billion transactions processed over the same period, CoinMarketCap data shows.

Schwab was trading at $94.86, up nearly 2% early Friday afternoon.