SoFi becomes first US chartered bank to offer crypto trading service
This past summer, the San Francisco-based fintech platform SoFi began offering its users international remittances through blockchain and stablecoins, its first foray back into the digital asset space since exiting it in 2023.
The company said at the time that it expected to begin offering crypto services before the end of the year.
On Tuesday, it did just that, launching SoFi Crypto, its new digital asset platform.
With this platform, the company said its users will be able to buy, sell and hold dozens of cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Ethereum and Solana.
SoFi also noted that a phased rollout will follow its launch on Tuesday and will be available to more of its members in the coming weeks.
This rollout makes SoFi the first nationally chartered bank in the US to offer crypto trading services to its customers.
“Today marks a pivotal moment when banking meets crypto in one app, on a trusted platform, and driven by our core mission to help our members get their money right,” SoFi CEO Anthony Noto said in a statement.
“I believe blockchain technology will fundamentally change EVERY way finance is done throughout the world by making money movement faster, cheaper and safer, while opening new ways for people to borrow better, invest better, spend and save better.”
He added that the bank was giving “our members a secure and regulated way to step into the future of money.”
Crypto biz comes back from the dead
SoFi cited data showing that 60% of its members who own crypto would prefer to manage their digital assets with a licensed bank over their primary crypto exchange.
The company said that this is “a clear signal of the confidence consumers place in regulated institutions and SoFi's unique position to meet this demand head-on.”
However, SoFi pointed out that since crypto and other digital assets are not bank deposits, it means the money is not insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) or the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC), the latter of which protects members if their brokerage firm fails.
The company shut down its crypto operations in 2023 after receiving a conditional approval from the Office of the Comptroller of Currency (OCC) under the Biden administration to operate as a holding company the previous year.
The company said in a regulatory filing in 2022 that the approval from the OCC hinged on the company not engaging in any crypto-related activity or services without approval from the agency.
However, with the Trump administration’s revised rules for digital assets, the OCC now allows nationally chartered banks to offer crypto custody and execution services on behalf of its customers.
William Blair analyst Andrew Jeffrey recently reiterated his Outperform rating for SoFi, citing the firm’s record addition of 900K new members during the latest quarter, as well as its strong loan platform business and 50% fee-based revenue growth.
“We believe powerful loan demand, product expansion in student lending and home lending, and new offerings, like crypto trading and remittance, will power 25%-plus 2026 revenue growth,” Jeffrey wrote.
SoFi’s stock gained 1.3% on Tuesday, and has surged just over 100% for the year.