On August 27, Charles Schwab announced plans to add Solana, Avalanche, and Chainlink alongside Bitcoin and Ethereum.
For AVAX, the move puts the token in front of a huge audience of traditional investors. As of July 31, Schwab had $13.04 trillion in client assets across 39.9 million active accounts. Soon, eligible clients will be able to buy and sell AVAX alongside their stocks, ETFs, and other investments.
An audience of that size is significant on its own. But Schwab’s selection of Avalanche is also notable: the brokerage chose AVAX as part of its first expansion beyond BTC and ETH.
So why Avalanche?
Avalanche Was Already on Wall Street’s Radar
Schwab hasn’t published a detailed breakdown of its selection criteria, saying only that the additions match client demand for established assets. Avalanche’s history with major financial institutions provides some useful context.
In November 2023, J.P. Morgan’s Onyx division and Apollo Global Management ran a Project Guardian proof of concept using a permissioned Avalanche Evergreen subnet, the predecessor to today’s Avalanche L1 architecture. WisdomTree provided tokenized funds for the trial, which tested how smart contracts could automate portfolio management across traditional and alternative assets. A few months later, in February 2024, Citi ran another trial on Avalanche Spruce with Wellington Management and WisdomTree to test tokenized private funds, automated distribution rules, and compliance.
These were early pilots rather than full-scale products, and they happened years ago. Wall Street didn’t migrate to Avalanche overnight. What the trials did show, however, was that Avalanche was already attracting serious attention from major financial institutions.
Why Institutions Want Their Own L1
One of Avalanche’s main advantages for financial institutions is its customizable L1 architecture.
Financial firms may not want to run regulated assets on an open, shared public chain where fees can change and access can’t easily be restricted. An Avalanche L1 lets an institution set its own validator rules, restrict network access, and customize gas mechanics while remaining connected to the broader ecosystem.
Project Guardian showed how this could work in practice. The participants tested tokenized funds on a permissioned Avalanche network while maintaining control over who could take part. The project also used its own gas setup, showing that an Avalanche L1 doesn’t have to work exactly like the public C-Chain.
Ethereum L2s and other networks are competing for the same institutional market. Avalanche has been building around customizable L1s for years, though, and the J.P. Morgan and Citi trials show that major financial firms have already tested the model. That history doesn’t tell us why Schwab chose AVAX, but it helps explain why Avalanche is already familiar to major financial institutions.
Schwab Makes AVAX Easier to Buy
Avalanche’s growth is happening on two fronts: institutions are building on the network, while investors are gaining more ways to buy AVAX. Schwab directly addresses the second.
A Schwab client won’t need to open an account with a crypto exchange or manage self-custody wallets just to buy AVAX. The token will be available through Schwab’s website, mobile app, and thinkorswim platform, alongside the stocks and ETFs clients already use. Schwab is charging 75 basis points per crypto trade.
That doesn’t guarantee an immediate wave of buying, but it removes a barrier for a huge group of investors. Looking further ahead, Schwab also plans to offer digital asset trading, transfers, and custody to financial advisors by mid-2027. Schwab Advisor Services works with more than 16,000 Registered Investment Advisors (RIAs), potentially giving digital assets another path into professionally managed portfolios.
There’s also a difference between this and ETF exposure. Schwab customers will be able to buy the actual AVAX token through a brokerage they already use, rather than getting exposure through a fund that holds the asset.
Why the Schwab Move Matters
Short-term price reactions aren’t the key takeaway here. AVAX rose after Schwab’s announcement, but a few days of price movement says very little about the long-term impact of a platform listing.
What matters is that Schwab brings together two parts of the Avalanche story that have largely developed separately.
On one side, financial institutions are testing Avalanche technology for tokenized funds and dedicated networks. On the other, traditional investors now have a direct way to buy AVAX through a brokerage account they already use.
What Happens Next
The Schwab announcement is only the start. AVAX has yet to launch on the platform, so the more useful numbers will come once clients can actually trade it. Trading activity will show whether Schwab’s large customer base translates into meaningful interest in AVAX, while new institutional projects will show whether Avalanche’s earlier pilots are turning into live products.
For now, Schwab has given AVAX something it didn’t have before: direct access to a huge traditional investor base. At the same time, Avalanche continues to build the financial infrastructure that has put it on the radar of major institutions.
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