Schwab's Jon Beatty favors crypto ETFs for advisor portfolios ahead of spot trading launch

As custodian Charles Schwab prepares to debut crypto spot trading for RIAs by mid-2027, its head of advisor services Jon Beatty expects crypto ETFs to remain advisors' preferred tool for allocating to digital assets such as Bitcoin and Ethereum. 

“I think when advisors are convicted about wanting to create exposure to crypto in a portfolio construct, it makes a lot more sense to use an ETF, alongside the other ETFs that they're using to build out that allocation,” Beatty said at Schwab IMPACT in Boston. “Spot trading in crypto is more of a trading program, and so that's when it tends to be individually directed versus part of an allocation approach.” 

Spot trading lets investors buy and hold the cryptocurrencies themselves, which trade around the clock, whereas crypto ETFs hold the coins on investors' behalf and trade like stocks during market hours. Schwab started allowing spot trading on Bitcoin and Ethereum for retail investors in May, then announced plans in August to expand that retail offering to include Solana, Avalanche, and Chainlink. 

“Individual spot trading is probably a trading pattern, and either that is the advisor's conviction or the end client's conviction,” added Beatty. “But when you're doing asset allocation, that's why we see most of the crypto activity on our platform coming through the ETF format.” 

Bitcoin, Ethereum spot trading

Jalina Kerr, head of advisor experience at Schwab Advisor Services, confirmed at IMPACT that advisors will be able to start spot trading Bitcoin and Ethereum by the middle of next year. Kerr added that the push is coming less from advisors’ own conviction and more from their clients’ interests in crypto. 

“What we often hear is that the advisors themselves, while they may not be a big believer of it, [many] of their clients have [crypto], house it elsewhere, and want to actually be able to bring it into their Schwab portfolio so that they can see it all in one spot,” Kerr said. “So I think for us, it’s a little bit more about consolidation, safety, and the advisor helping to make sure that’s a part of the conversation that they’re having around wealth.” 

Schwab’s newly released 2026 Independent Advisor Outlook Study shows how small that conversation still is. Only 16% of RIAs currently offer crypto or digital assets, the lowest share among the 13 services the survey tracked. Another 15% plan to add them within three years, which would bring adoption to nearly a third of firms. 

Next-gen crypto appeal

Client demand is similarly limited. Twenty-eight percent of advisors said their clients are interested in crypto access, while 59% said they are not. Among advisors whose clients are interested, 87% said those clients favor established coins like Bitcoin and Ethereum. The survey of 1,235 Schwab-custodied advisors, representing $497 billion in assets, was conducted from July 13 to July 30. 

Generational wealth transfer is another factor. David Botset, head of strategy, innovation and stewardship at Schwab Asset Management, described an advisor who stopped by Schwab’s booth at IMPACT and asked when he could begin custodying clients’ Bitcoin with the firm.  

“This advisor is thinking about the wealth transfer that’s happening [with] his clients, and that younger generation has a lot more interest,” Botset said. “They’re like, ‘I need to get smart on this because as that transition happens, the kids of my clients are asking for it.’” 

In the Schwab study, 26% of firms that offer crypto cited the chance to attract younger clients as a reason. Schwab’s continued push into crypto services for advisors comes as Binance was recently hit by the largest-ever cryptocurrency heist as hackers stole $6.3 billion from the Chinese exchange.