Morning Minute: $11 Trillion+ Schwab Goes All In on Cryptocurrency

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GM!

Today’s most important news:

• Major Cryptocurrency Firms Rise as Trump Says War Must End Soon; Bitcoin at $75,700
• Stocks closed in the green to hit a record high for the 12th straight day
• Schwab is moving to offer spot trading for BTC and ETH soon, for a hefty fee
• Tether commits $127 million to Drift while Circle faces a lawsuit over its failure to freeze
• CFTC Chairman Selig Faces Pressure on Prediction Markets and Hyperliquid

💰 Schwab is fully moving into the cryptocurrency space

Charles Schwab confirmed in its first-quarter earnings call on Thursday that spot trading for bitcoin and ethereum is being implemented in phases under the “Schwab Crypto” brand, which is operated through Charles Schwab Premier Bank.

Employees get access first, then early access registrants, then the full customer base. Custody and settlement are handled by Paxos. Notably, the fee is 75 basis points per trade, which is much higher than ETFs.

CEO Rick Wurster also told analysts that the company is “likely” to offer predictive markets at some point as well, specifically creating contracts for financial events that differ from sports betting and politics.

For perspective, Schwab has $11.8 trillion in client assets and 16,000 financial advisors. Goldman Sachs filed for a Bitcoin income ETF this week. Morgan Stanley disclosed $1.24 billion exposure to the Bitcoin ETF in the first quarter of 2013 and launched its ETF with a 0.14% yield. The three biggest names in US retail and institutional finance are making big moves into the cryptocurrency space now. Institutions don’t come, they are here.

Key details:

• Charles Schwab Launched phased spot trading for BTC and ETH Via Schwab Crypto at 75 basis points per trade, with custody through Paxos
• Scale: $11.8 trillion in client assets and 16,000 financial advisors; It is now a direct competitor to Coinbase and Robinhood for retail access to cryptocurrencies
• The week in context: Goldman has applied for a Bitcoin Income ETF; Morgan Stanley disclosed $1.24 billion of BTC ETF exposure in the first quarter and launched its ETF with a 0.14% yield; Schwab goes right to the spot

⚖️ The CFTC chair is getting hit from both sides

CFTC Chairman Mike Selig appeared before the Senate Agriculture Committee on Thursday and was being pressed from two directions at once.

Republican and Democratic senators alike have opposed the aggressive stance the CFTC has taken in defense of prediction markets in court while simultaneously demanding to know what the agency is doing about Hyperliquid, an offshore perpetual futures exchange that has been siphoning volume away from regulated U.S. venues with no CFTC oversight at all.

Selig’s position on prediction markets: Exclusive federal jurisdiction, full stop. And states suing to restrict it are “trying to invalidate federal law.” He has filed an amicus brief to support this.

The hyperliquid problem is trickier. It is a fully decentralized exchange that operates offshore, outside the purview of the CFTC, and runs markets on assets that would be regulated by the CFTC if it were located onshore. Senators on both sides of the aisle want answers about how the agency plans to address this gap. Selig’s answer was, essentially, that the law of clarity would help. The same law of clarity still exists in coding.

Key details:

• CFTC Chairman Mike Selig He faced bipartisan pushback in the Senate on Thursday On two fronts: his aggressive defense before the court of the jurisdiction of prediction markets, and the agency’s inability to regulate Hyperliquid’s offshore trading.
• In prediction markets: Selig asserts that the CFTC has “exclusive regulatory authority” regardless of contract type.
• On excess liquid: Decentralized offshore Perp exchange pulls regulated volume offshore without CFTC access; Selig’s answer points to the law of clarity as the solution

🪂 Tether saves the drift, taking Solana’s USDC market with it

Tether has committed up to $127.5 million to fund the recovery of Drift Protocol, the Solana-based perpetual DEX that was drained of nearly $285 million in the April 1 North Korean hack. It’s part of an overall $147.5 million package with partners, designed as a revenue-linked credit facility that repays $295.7 million in user losses over time from Drift trading revenue.

Drift’s DRIFT token jumped 20% on the news.

Related to the headline – Drift is being relaunched with USDT as the settlement layer, not USDC. On Solana, USDC has a 2.65x market cap advantage over USDT. Drift had $550 million in TVL before the hack and 128,000 users.

For its part, Circle has faced criticism for not freezing the stolen USDC sooner — the attacker moved $232 million from Solana to Ethereum using Circle’s cross-chain protocol while Circle refused to act without a court order. Tether just used a bailout to flip the dominant stablecoin on one of the largest Solana protocols.

Key details:

• Tether has pledged $127.5 million – Part of a $147.5 million package – to Return recovery protocol drift After the North Korean hack on April 1 drained nearly $285 million
• Stablecoin coup: Drift relaunched on USDT, not USDC; Tether goes from 2.65x underdog on Solana to leveling tier for Solana’s largest perp DEX
• Circle Contrast: The attacker transferred $232 million USD via Circle’s cross-chain protocol; The department refused to freeze without a court order

🎨 The institution has stopped working

Foundation, one of the defining NFT art platforms of the 2021 boom, announced Wednesday that it will close its doors after a planned sale to digital art company Blackdove collapsed.

CEO Kayvon Tehranian posted an open letter on X: “Our goal in pursuing the sale has always been to see the organization survive. This is no longer possible.” A one-year termination deadline was triggered, and users were told to begin their off-platform migration.

MakersPlace closed in January 2025. Nifty Gateway announced its closure in January 2026 with 650,000 NFTs remaining on the platform. Christie’s closed its digital art department last fall. Sotheby’s folded its Metaverse team in 2024. Magic Eden shut down its NFT marketplace.

OpenSea is the only survivor.

Key details:

• • NFT Foundation Platform The operation is turned off After the collapse of the sale to Blackdove; CEO Kayvon Tehranian confirmed the divestment in an open letter, and the infrastructure remains live for one year while users migrate.
  • Numbers: The organization facilitated $230 million in initial sales at peak; NFT art trading volume fell from $2.9 billion in 2021 to $23.8 million in early 2025
  • Complete body count: MakersPlace (January 2025), KnownOrigin (July 2024), Christie’s Digital Art (Fall 2025), Nifty Gateway (January 2026), Magic Eden (March 2026), Foundation (April 2026)

🌎 Total crypto and markets

• Major Cryptocurrency Companies Go Green After Trump Says War Must End Soon; Bitcoin +1.3% at $75.7K; ETH +1% at $2,357; SOL +3% at $88; HYPE -3% at $43.60
• Average (+28%), RAVE (+23%) and ARB (+13%) led the top movers
• oil Even at $88; Gold -$1 at $4,780
• Stocks closed in the green to tie the record for 12 days in a row and would set a new record if it was green today
• Tennessee lawmakers Introduce a bill To invest state funds in Bitcoin, joining a growing list of state-level Bitcoin reserve efforts moving through legislatures in 2026.
• Polkadot-Ethereum Bridge Hack It cost $25 million in losses – 10x the original estimate
• DoubleZero Launched Edge platform Giving businesses quick access to Solana blockchain data
• circle He is being sued For failing to freeze funds during a Drift exploit

Corporate Treasuries and ETFs

Meme Coin Tracker

• Meme leaders He was Mostly green. Doji +2%, Shape +3%, Pipe +4%, Trump +3%, Bingo +5%, SPX +4%, Vartcoin +4%
• Asteroid (+150x), Faith (+400%), Zerebro (+40%) and Griffin (+39%) were the leading movers on the series

💰 Token tracking, airdrop and protocol

• Anthropic Claude Opus 4.7 Recorded highest scores In coding tests before its release
• pump Launches the ACE Tour Allowing token holders to convert into shares in the company at a ratio of 2.5:1, giving the company an implied market value of $75 million at current prices.
• Artemis Launched Artemis II As an open investment portal
• MegaETH token launch possibilities Coming by the end of May they jumped over 90% in prediction markets

🚚 What happens in NFTs?

• NFT leaders It was a little green; Punk +3% at 26.9 ETH, Pudgy even at 4.1 ETH, BAYC +2% at 6.5 ETH; Hypurr’s -1% at 399 HYPE
• Gymbooz (+25%) and Memeland Captainz (+15%) led the notable movers
• CEO of Yoga Garga Announce He will step down as CEO and move to the position of Chairman, while Viji will replace him as CEO