Interactive Brokers now lets clients switch supported crypto from external wallets into IBKR accounts without promoting first, extending its low-fee, multi-asset platform push.
Summary
- Interactive Brokers (NASDAQ: IBKR) announced on March 25 that clients can transfer supported cryptocurrencies from external wallets directly into their IBKR-linked crypto accounts without first liquidating their positions.
- The feature covers Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, and other supported assets, with custody handled through Paxos or zerohash, and commissions ranging from 0.12% to 0.18% of trade value — significantly below the industry norm of up to 2.00%.
- The move follows IBKR’s January launch of 24/7 stablecoin account funding and deepens its push to position itself as a single destination for both traditional and digital asset management.
Interactive Brokers (NASDAQ: IBKR) launched a crypto portfolio transfer feature on Wednesday, allowing clients to move existing digital asset holdings from external wallets or platforms directly into their IBKR-linked crypto accounts — without selling first. According to a BusinessWire press launch, eligible clients of Interactive Brokers LLC and Interactive Brokers (U.Okay.) Restricted can now switch Solana, Bitcoin, Ethereum, and different supported cryptocurrencies immediately into accounts held at Paxos or zerohash, and handle them alongside shares, choices, futures, currencies, and bonds from a single interface.
CEO Milan Galik framed the announcement as a direct response to friction within the crypto buying and selling expertise. “Crypto buyers ought to be capable to entry aggressive crypto pricing and diversified funding alternatives without managing a number of accounts or liquidating their positions,” Galik mentioned. “By enabling direct crypto portfolio transfers, we’re making it simple for merchants to profit from IBKR’s low-cost crypto buying and selling and acquire entry to our full vary of worldwide markets inside the similar skilled buying and selling surroundings.”
The pricing angle is central to IBKR’s pitch. The brokerage prices commissions of 0.12% to 0.18% of commerce worth — with a minimal of $1.75 per order and no added spreads or markups — in comparison with charges of as much as 2.00% or extra on many retail crypto platforms, typically with extra embedded prices. In a earlier crypto.information story, IBKR launched 24/7 stablecoin account funding in January, enabling clients to deposit USDC and have it transformed to USD nearly immediately by zerohash, changing cross-border wires that usually take one to a few enterprise days and carry charges of $25 to $50 per transaction.
Wednesday’s characteristic is a part of a broader, deliberate build-out. IBKR started providing crypto buying and selling in 2021 with Bitcoin and Ethereum, earlier than including Solana, XRP, and different tokens in subsequent years. In February 2026, the brokerage expanded additional, including Coinbase Derivatives perpetual-style futures contracts to its platform. Crypto custody is dealt with by two regulated companions — Paxos Belief Firm, supervised by the New York Division of Monetary Providers, and zerohash, a FinCEN-registered cash providers enterprise with a BitLicense from the NYDFS.
The move places IBKR in more and more direct competitors with crypto-native exchanges for lively merchants, notably those that need entry to conventional markets alongside digital property. That stress is coming from either side — a earlier crypto.information story famous that Morgan Stanley plans to supply crypto buying and selling on E-Commerce in 2026, signaling that legacy brokerages are collectively accelerating their digital asset integrations.
Interactive Brokers serves particular person buyers, hedge funds, proprietary buying and selling teams, monetary advisors, and introducing brokers throughout greater than 170 markets globally. The group is a member of the S&P 500. The agency has lengthy differentiated itself on low prices and broad market entry, and the portfolio switch characteristic extends that mannequin to customers who presently maintain crypto elsewhere however need decrease buying and selling prices and built-in entry to conventional markets — without the tax and timing issues of liquidating to move.
“Perpetual-style crypto futures have grow to be common with merchants as a result of they supply long-dated publicity and larger flexibility,” Galik mentioned on the February launch of Coinbase Derivatives contracts. The portfolio switch characteristic now means those self same merchants can convey their present crypto holdings onto the platform in a single step. As a earlier crypto.information story famous, the stablecoin-funded account initiative earlier this 12 months already pointed to a agency that views crypto infrastructure not as a bolt-on, however as a core a part of its long-term platform technique.
