Wall Street est en train de dévorer la crypto, et vous avec !

Charles Schwab, a titan of traditional finance managing trillions in assets, has officially entered the cryptocurrency market, offering direct Bitcoin and Ethereum trading. This move marks a significant shift for an institution that historically represented the establishment, contrasting with Bitcoin's original ethos of decentralization and bypassing financial intermediaries. Rick Verster, Schwab's CEO, admitted feeling "a bit silly" for not having invested in crypto earlier, a sentiment that has now been addressed by integrating these digital assets into Schwab's platform. The video traces the evolution of Charles Schwab itself, from its origins in 1975 as an "anti-system" player that democratized stock trading through discount brokerage, to its current status as a massive financial institution. This transformation is key to understanding why Schwab, despite its early ethos aligning with Bitcoin's principles, hesitated for so long. As a custodian for millions of American savers, Schwab viewed the crypto ecosystem as too volatile, opaque, and legally uncertain. The SEC's SAB 121 accounting rule, which made holding crypto assets financially risky for institutions, further deterred them. However, early 2025 saw regulatory shifts, including the potential repeal of SAB 121, and Schwab recognized the growing demand from its client base. Clients were increasingly seeking crypto exposure, and Schwab feared losing them to competitors like Coinbase or Kraken. This pressure, coupled with Verster's personal realization, led Schwab to capitulate and launch its crypto services. The new Schwab Crypto offering, initially available to a select group of investors, focuses on Bitcoin and Ethereum, representing a substantial portion of the crypto market. It charges a 0.75% transaction fee, which is competitive, though higher than some specialized crypto exchanges. Notably, Schwab's offering is a "closed-loop" system; users cannot deposit or withdraw crypto to external wallets, meaning they own a claim on Schwab rather than the actual coins, a concept antithetical to the "not your keys, not your coins" mantra. While Schwab plans to expand crypto support and enable deposits/withdrawals, this initial limitation is significant. This integration by a historical financial gatekeeper signifies Bitcoin's transition from a fringe asset to a mainstream investment, comparable to stocks or treasury bonds. The video highlights a series of events in May 2026, including Coinbase's layoffs and poor financial results, Morgan Stanley's launch of its own crypto trading service, and AWS outages affecting crypto platforms, all occurring shortly before Schwab's official rollout. These events suggest a consolidation in the crypto market, with traditional finance players increasingly taking control. The narrative questions whether this is Bitcoin's triumph, forcing Wall Street to adapt, or Wall Street's absorption of Bitcoin, potentially compromising its original decentralized nature.