A decade ago, most people didn’t know what Bitcoin (BTC) was, let alone include it as part of their investment plan, and many leaders from financial firms were quick to call cryptocurrency a scam. Back in 2015, Bitcoin hovered in the $200-to-$300 range for most of the year before exploding to more than $400 per BTC by the end of the year.
Cryptocurrency as a concept has weathered plenty of criticism, with some of the smartest investors on Wall Street telling people to stay as far away from the new asset class as possible. JPMorgan Chase & Co. (ticker: JPM) CEO Jamie Dimon, the late Charlie Munger and his revered colleague Warren Buffett of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK.B), and hedge fund legend Ray Dalio were among those who labeled Bitcoin as “stupid,” “rat poison” and a “fraud.”
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Now, Bitcoin has shocked the world and currently commands a value of more than $108,000 per coin as of June 10. Many of the brokerage firms that previously distanced themselves from Bitcoin have rushed to create their own Bitcoin exchange-traded funds, or ETFs, and offer crypto trading on their platforms.
While these are exciting times for crypto, they may be just the beginning. Crypto is still in its early stages, having only been around since 2008. Familiarity can eventually lead to trust, and many brokerage firms now seem to have taken this concept to heart.
What the Wider Adoption of Crypto Means for Investors
Bitcoin defied the loud voices of critics and trounced the Nasdaq composite and S&P 500 over the past decade. It’s another example that demonstrates Wall Street isn’t perfect, but investors sometimes adjust after learning from their mistakes.
With more brokerage firms opening up to Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, it can present a compelling buying opportunity for investors. Tal Elyashiv, co-founder and managing partner at SPiCE VC, a blockchain-powered venture capital fund, says, “Crypto assets are becoming more accessible for traditional investors. This may increase the inflow of funds into crypto markets, and potentially increase the market capitalization of crypto as an asset class.”
Bitcoin and Ether (ETH), the native crypto of the Ethereum network, stand to be the biggest winners, but other altcoins are also getting more attention. The expansion of crypto through brokerage accounts will boost the assets’ legitimacy and investor demand.
However, you shouldn’t rush to put all of your money into crypto, despite its historical returns. Elyashiv offers some food for thought before you add crypto to your portfolio: “Is this an asset class that fits your portfolio return, risk tolerance, volatility and diversification objectives, and if so, what (percentage of) exposure is right for your portfolio?”
It’s important to assess your financial situation and long-term goals before buying crypto, but you have to first align yourself with a brokerage firm that lets you buy crypto. These five popular brokerages have recently expanded their crypto offerings:
— JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM)
— Moomoo Technologies Inc.
— Fidelity Investments
— Charles Schwab Corp. (SCHW)
— Interactive Brokers Group Inc. (IBKR)
JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM)
JPMorgan’s entrance into the crypto markets is actually quite shocking, considering the company’s CEO has called Bitcoin a fraud and a Ponzi scheme multiple times. Dimon acknowledged that the firm will not hold the digital assets, but it will let customers buy them.
“I don’t think you should smoke, but I defend your right to smoke. I defend your right to buy Bitcoin,” Dimon stated when making the announcement. JPMorgan opened up the option for its customers to buy Bitcoin starting in mid-May, but it didn’t take long for the brokerage firm to make its next crypto-related move. JPMorgan expanded its crypto services in early June, allowing some clients to use Bitcoin ETFs as collateral for loans.
These quick enhancements to JPMorgan’s crypto offerings, plus a pro-crypto climate facilitated by President Donald Trump’s administration, suggest that more updates may be on the way.
Moomoo Technologies Inc.
California-based Moomoo is a new brokerage firm that was founded in 2018, but it has grown to more than 26 million customers. The firm recently announced Moomoo Crypto, a digital asset investment service that offers more than 30 cryptocurrencies for U.S. customers.
“As digital assets continue to gain mainstream adoption, we saw a clear opportunity to apply our expertise in creating accessible yet sophisticated investment tools for the crypto space,” says Neil McDonald, Moomoo’s U.S. CEO.
Moomoo has integrated its AI stock trading tools and features with its crypto services. These resources help you gauge how past strategies would have performed so you can make well-informed trades in the present.
“(Our AI) will backtest your strategy on 10 years’ worth of data, show you your entry and exit points, and what your P&L is. We have Bitcoin data going back to 2010,” McDonald explains.
Moomoo is just getting started with crypto. The company doesn’t have scheduled releases for new cryptos on its platform as yet, but its leaders say they listen to users when deciding which cryptos to add.
“We might find that in our community, people start asking for a particular coin, and if they start asking for it, and it’s a lot of months, and then it fits with our other rubrics, then that might be included in the next wave, but it’s not a set schedule,” explains Justin Zacks, Moomoo’s vice president of strategy for North America.
Fidelity Investments
Fidelity caught the eye of Elyashiv with its recent crypto offerings. While JPMorgan and Moomoo made cryptocurrencies available for their users to trade, Fidelity created a new retirement savings account for crypto investors.
“Fidelity Investments introduced in April this year a no-fee Crypto IRA, allowing U.S. investors to directly invest in crypto within a tax-advantaged retirement account,” Elyashiv says. This comes as the Trump administration rescinded guidance in late May that warned employers to approach crypto, nonfungible tokens and meme coins with caution when considering them for company 401(k) plans. (Trump launched his own meme coin, $TRUMP, at the start of his presidency.)
With Fidelity’s Crypto IRA, you get all of the benefits of an IRA, but instead of buying stocks and mutual funds, you can load up on crypto. However, the pickings are pretty slim. So far, you can only invest in Bitcoin, Ether and Litecoin (LTC) in the IRA.
Fidelity’s crypto services are relatively limited, but it also has a Bitcoin ETF called the Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC). The fund has a 0.25% expense ratio and has outperformed the Nasdaq composite and S&P 500, as of June 9 close. The fund was launched on Jan. 10, 2024, and it already has $21 billion in net assets.
Charles Schwab Corp. (SCHW)
Schwab currently does not give its customers a way to buy Bitcoin directly, but the firm announced in April that it will launch a crypto trading platform in spring 2026. It’s an ambitious move for a financial firm that still doesn’t allow direct ownership of crypto, but once its platform is released, Schwab will be competing directly with the likes of Coinbase Global Inc. (COIN) and Binance.
Schwab CEO Rick Wurster mentioned the pro-crypto policies of the Trump administration when explaining the crypto trading platform. “Our expectation is that with the changing regulatory environment, we are hopeful and likely to be able to launch direct spot crypto,” he explained during a conference call for the company’s 2025 spring business update.
Interactive Brokers Group Inc. (IBKR)
Interactive Brokers has been a crypto frontrunner compared with big brokerages that have been around for multiple decades. The firm enabled customers to buy Bitcoin in 2021, and they can even buy crypto with leverage.
Interactive Brokers made additions to its crypto roster earlier this year. The firm added Solana (SOL), Cardano (ADA), XRP (XRP) and Dogecoin (DOGE) among the tokens that investors can trade. Interactive Brokers also lets its customers trade BTC, ETH, LTC and Bitcoin Cash (BCH).
Interactive Brokers’ crypto investors can also withdraw their holdings to external wallets. Like some other firms on this list, Interactive Brokers also facilitates crypto trading 24/7. Interactive Brokers collects relatively low crypto trading commissions based on monthly volume, ranging from 0.12% to 0.18% of the trade value.
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5 Big Brokers With New Crypto Offerings originally appeared on usnews.com
