Charles Schwab is quietly eyeing prediction markets — and its interest could be another sign that mainstream Wall Street is warming to a corner of finance long seen as niche or regulatory gray.
On the company’s Q1 earnings call, President and CEO Rick Wurster said prediction markets — contracts that let people bet on the likelihood of events, from inflation readings to earnings outcomes — will “likely” arrive at Schwab at some point. He drew a clear line between wagers on financial events and bets on sports, politics or pop culture (think Taylor Swift rumors): “When we do, we'll stay away from gambling,” Wurster said, adding that prediction markets are distinct from entertainment-oriented speculation. He also cautioned that demand isn’t urgent: “It’s not at the top of our clients’ list,” and noted the poor track record of many gamblers.
If and when Schwab rolls out such products, the move would be noteworthy given the firm’s heft — $11.8 trillion in client assets — and would follow a wave of traditional-market players building event-based offerings. Exchange operators like Cboe are preparing event contracts tied to financial outcomes using conventional settlement rails, and Nasdaq filed with the SEC last month to offer options on yes-or-no event outcomes.
Retail platforms have already leaned into prediction markets via integrations with providers like Kalshi and Polymarket. That model has proven popular: a Dune dashboard reported that, last week, sports wagers made up 78% of one platform’s $2.7 billion volume. Schwab declined to specify partners or details beyond Wurster’s remarks; a company spokesperson told Decrypt the firm had no further announcements.
Schwab is also moving forward on crypto. The brokerage said it will enable trading of Bitcoin and Ethereum in the coming weeks, charging 0.75% per trade — a fee the firm called “among the lowest in the industry.” Schwab plans to expand its crypto roadmap over time to include deposit and withdrawal capabilities for digital assets and a broader slate of supported tokens, bringing features familiar to Robinhood and Coinbase users to its client base. The comments come as Schwab reported a record 9.9 million trades in Q1.
Why it matters
- Schwab’s scale would lend credibility and mainstream distribution to prediction markets if it launches them.
- Traditional exchanges (Cboe, Nasdaq) are already building regulated versions of event contracts, blurring lines between decentralized platforms and incumbent finance.
- Schwab’s imminent Bitcoin and Ether trading — plus planned crypto custody features — signals continued competition among brokerages to add crypto services for retail clients.
Read more AI-generated news on: undefined/news
