- Key insight: SoFi is the first nationally chartered consumer bank in the U.S. to allow members to buy, sell and hold cryptocurrencies directly within its single banking app.
- Supporting data: A SoFi survey indicates that 60% of its members who own crypto would prefer to use a licensed bank over their primary crypto exchange.
- Forward look: The launch is the first phase of a broader strategy that includes plans for a USD stablecoin, crypto-backed borrowing, and new staking features.
Overview bullets generated by AI with editorial review
SoFi announced on Tuesday the launch of SoFi Crypto, a platform offering consumers the ability to buy, sell, and hold cryptocurrencies directly within its application.
This aggressive step into digital assets comes at a pivotal time, following months of regulatory rollback by federal banking agencies that has knocked down some barriers for traditional institutions seeking to engage with crypto.
The move is highly relevant to U.S. banks and credit unions, as it signals a successful path for a federally regulated depository institution to fully integrate volatile digital assets into core consumer offerings, potentially setting a new standard for customer acquisition and digital engagement.
SoFi is positioning the launch as a landmark event in the convergence of traditional finance and digital assets.
Anthony Noto, CEO of SoFi, asserted the company is the “first and only nationally chartered consumer bank where members can bank, borrow, invest — and now buy, sell and hold crypto – all in one place.”
SoFi is not the first nationally chartered bank to offer crypto services, but it does appear to be the only one offering these services today. Vast Bank, which has a national charter,
Noto said SoFi is now “uniquely positioned to drive this innovation and set a new standard built on security, stability and transparency.” Analysts largely supported his claims.
Dan Dolev, managing director and senior analyst for fintech equity research at Mizuho Securities, described the bank’s ability to offer crypto trading as a “powerful competitive edge.”
Although a unique entrant to the retail crypto trading space, SoFi is not alone. Firms such as Fidelity, a household name but not a nationally chartered bank, have offered similar services for some time.
Furthermore, brokerage divisions at traditional banks, such as
How the platform works and initial offerings
The new SoFi Crypto service allows members to buy, sell, and hold a selection of cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin, Ether and the SPL tokens exchanged on the Solana blockchain.
The SoFi platform’s core strength, particularly relevant to banks focused on deposit stability and integrated services, is its integration into SoFi’s existing banking structure.
Key features SoFi has promised include bank-grade security and seamless money movement.
SoFi emphasized in its announcement that the platform is designed with “institutional-level security” and “rigorous compliance standards to meet safety and soundness, which is overseen by our nation’s bank regulators.”
Members can instantly purchase crypto assets using money held in their FDIC-insured SoFi checking or savings accounts without requiring fund transfers out of the SoFi platform. Uninvested cash remains in the bank account, earning interest.
The launch is being conducted as a phased rollout, starting immediately and becoming available to more members over the coming weeks. The bank currently allows customers to join a waitlist to gain access to the crypto trading platform.
Future plans
The current crypto trading launch marks the initial phase of SoFi’s broader digital asset strategy. This follows
In that earlier announcement, SoFi also outlined its plan to launch self-serve international money transfers (global remittances) later in the year, leveraging blockchain for faster and cheaper transactions.
SoFi has already been using blockchain technology to power global crypto-enabled remittances.
Pending features planned for the future include:
- Introducing a USD stablecoin.
- Providing the ability for members to borrow against their crypto assets.
- Introducing new staking features that allow crypto asset owners to earn yields by keeping their tokens on the network for a set period of time.
- Integrating blockchain and digital asset infrastructure capabilities for other companies — so-called institutional crypto services — through Galileo, SoFi’s technology platform.
Regulatory tailwinds paved the way
SoFi’s re-entry into consumer crypto trading is highly dependent on recent shifts in the regulatory climate, which became significantly more permissive in 2025. For the past three years, regulators have discouraged traditional banks and credit unions from offering crypto services.
For instance, Vast Bank in Oklahoma was driven out of the crypto market in early 2024 following an OCC consent order related to unsafe practices tied to its crypto operations.
Similarly, specialized crypto banks like the Wyoming-chartered Kraken Bank and Custodia Bank have spent years burning capital waiting for the Federal Reserve to approve their access to the central bank’s payment rails (master accounts), though recent proposals for “skinny” master accounts offer these institutions guarded hope.
SoFi’s previous
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, or OCC, issued letters in March and May that rolled back previous, restrictive regulations.
Those letters reaffirmed the authority for nationally chartered banks to offer crypto activities such as crypto custody and execution services on behalf of customers, holding dollar deposits serving as reserves for stablecoins in certain circumstances, and engaging in stablecoin activities for payment facilitation.
The OCC also rescinded prior guidance that had required national banks to secure a supervisory non-objection before engaging in these activities. This requirement had acted as a de facto ban on crypto engagement.
The Federal Reserve and Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. also withdrew prior joint statements on crypto-asset risks, and the Fed specifically dropped supervisory letters that had required banks under their supervision (state member banks and bank holding companies) to provide prior notice or non-objection before engaging in crypto or dollar token activities.
Additionally, the Securities and Exchange Commission rescinded a highly criticized bulletin that previously required institutions providing crypto custody to record customer assets as liabilities on their balance sheets, a requirement that significantly deterred banks from offering custody services.
Analyst outlook: Incremental gain, competitive advantage
While SoFi’s status as a nationally chartered bank offering this service to consumers is unique, analysts offered varying assessments on the financial impact:
Michael Miller, equity analyst at Morningstar, characterized the opportunity as a “real but relatively modest revenue opportunity for SoFi here,” noting that the company is a “latecomer to the space.”
Miller views the expansion as a logical step to expand its offering and continue building SoFi as a full-service financial firm, but not a “game changer.” He estimated that SoFi would need to capture more than 16% of Coinbase’s retail volume to increase its revenue by 10%.
Dolev of Mizuho Securities said he believes the offering will open up significant revenue opportunities due to the hot crypto market and SoFi’s strong user base, which should lead to strong adoption.
Adam Morgan McCarthy, head of research at crypto analyst Kaiko, said it is hard to know whether there is demand among consumers for crypto trading within traditional bank apps, but some data suggests there is.
“Certainly in Europe we’ve seen a lot of consumer banking apps offer trading in crypto-related assets,” McCarthy said, pointing to Société Générale and Revolut as two examples.
For institutions evaluating their own digital asset strategy, SoFi’s success will serve as an indicator of whether consumers truly prefer to centralize their crypto activity within a regulated bank platform, leveraging the confidence associated with federally regulated institutions.
SoFi said in its announcement Tuesday that its survey data indicates 60% of members who own crypto would prefer to use a licensed bank over their primary crypto exchange.