Charles Schwab Weighs Prediction Markets Move as Bitcoin, Ethereum Trading Nears

In brief

• Charles Schwab President and CEO Rick Wurster indicated that America’s largest discount brokerage will likely support prediction markets.
• However, he said that the company plans to steer clear of topics that touch pop culture, politics, and sports in favor of wagers tied to financial events.
• Separately, the company said that it is rolling out access to Bitcoin and Ethereum trading in the coming weeks.

America’s largest discount brokerage is eyeing prediction markets, but Charles Schwab President and CEO Rick Wurster sees a big distinction between speculation on Taylor Swift’s love life and the latest inflation numbers.

“At some point, we will likely have prediction markets,” Wurster said during the company's first-quarter earnings call on Thursday, describing wagers on financial events as distinct from topics like sports, politics, and pop culture.

With $11.8 trillion in total client assets, Charles Schwab’s support of prediction markets would serve as the latest sign that Wall Street giants are embracing technology historically viewed as a fringe playground or regulatory gray area. However, Wurster indicated that Charles Schwab isn’t among firms racing to bring products associated with the sector to market.

“It’s not at the top of our clients’ list,” he said. “And if you look at the stats on the success of gamblers, they're not strong and people generally lose money.”

The assessment comes as exchange operators like Cboe Global Markets prepare to debut event contracts tied to financial events, mirroring platforms like Polymarket and Kalshi while using traditional financial rails. And last month, Nasdaq filed with the SEC to offer options contracts for yes-or-no bets on whether a specified event happens.

“That’s something certainly we will take a hard look at and then will be quite straightforward for us to offer,” Wurster said. “When we do, we'll stay away from gambling.”

Whether it’s Robinhood or Coinbase, prediction markets have emerged as core offerings for platforms aimed at retail investors through integrations with Kalshi. Last week, sports wagers accounted for 78% of the platform’s volume at $2.7 billion, according to a Dune dashboard.

Asked whether Charles Schwab’s prediction market offering would tap Polymarket or Kalshi, a spokesperson told Decrypt the company—which notched a record 9.9 million trades in the first quarter—doesn’t have anything to share beyond Wurster’s comments at this time.

As Robinhood and Coinbase have expanded their offerings, so too has Charles Schwab, which said Thursday that it plans to roll out access to trading Bitcoin and Ethereum in the coming weeks. At a rate of 0.75% per trade, the firm said in an announcement that its fees are “among the lowest in the industry.”

The discount brokerage said it plans to grow its crypto offering over time by adding a suite of features Robinhood and Coinbase users are already familiar with. That includes the ability to deposit and withdraw digital assets, as well as an expansion of the tokens it supports.