- SoFi CEO Anthony Noto announced the fintech bank’s return to cryptocurrency investing by year-end 2025, following a 2023 exit mandated by its bank charter, enabled by new OCC guidance allowing crypto activities for regulated banks.
- Over the next six to 24 months, SoFi (SOFI) plans to integrate crypto and blockchain across its lending, savings, spending, investing, and protecting products, potentially accelerating through acquisitions, with offerings like crypto-backed loans and payments.
- The move reflects a broader trend in the Trump era, with Bank of America (BAC) and Morgan Stanley (MS) eyeing crypto involvement since January 2025, while crypto firms like Circle and BitGo seek bank charters, blurring lines between traditional and digital finance.
SoFi Technologies Inc. (SOFI) is poised to re-enter the cryptocurrency market with an ambitious strategy, spurred by a more permissive regulatory environment under the Trump administration, as announced by CEO Anthony Noto in a late Monday interview with CNBC. The fintech bank, which was compelled to exit crypto investing in late 2023 to secure a bank charter amid intense federal scrutiny, previously offered access to over 20 crypto coins before redirecting customers to Blockchain.com or liquidating their holdings. Noto emphasized that new guidance from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), which now permits OCC-regulated banks to engage in crypto activities, marks a “fundamental shift” in the regulatory landscape. This shift, coupled with Trump appointees easing restrictions and a stablecoin regulatory framework advancing in Congress, has emboldened SoFi to plan a comprehensive crypto reintegration, targeting a return to crypto investing by year-end 2025, barring unforeseen setbacks.
Noto outlined a broader vision for SoFi, aiming to embed crypto and blockchain technology across its major product lines – lending, savings, spending, investing, and protecting – over the next six to 24 months, potentially accelerating this timeline through acquisitions. This approach could see innovative offerings, such as enabling customers to borrow cash against their crypto holdings or using crypto for payments, enhancing SoFi’s position in the evolving digital finance space. The announcement aligns with a broader trend of traditional financial institutions embracing crypto in the Trump era, as evidenced by Bank of America (BAC) and Morgan Stanley (MS) CEOs signaling their intent to enter the sector in January 2025. Concurrently, crypto-native firms like Circle and BitGo are pursuing bank charters, signaling a convergence of traditional banking and digital assets, a trend SoFi aims to capitalize on with its 10 million-strong customer base.
The regulatory thaw follows years of tension, notably after the 2022 FTX collapse, which prompted a stringent SEC crackdown on crypto activities, including enforcement actions against platforms like Robinhood (HOOD). SoFi’s prior partnerships with Blockchain.com and BitGo, which facilitated customer transitions during its 2023 exit, may now serve as a foundation for its re-entry, leveraging existing relationships to streamline operations. Noto’s optimism reflects a belief that crypto can enhance SoFi’s “one-stop shop” model, a strategy that has resonated with customers since 2018, when they first signaled demand for crypto services. As SoFi prepares to roll out these offerings, its ability to navigate remaining regulatory nuances and market volatility – where Bitcoin (BTC) prices have fluctuated 30% in 2025 alone – will be critical to fulfilling its expansive crypto aspirations.
In other SoFi news, the San Francisco, CA-based company delivered a robust performance in its Q1 2025 earnings, surpassing expectations and setting an optimistic tone for the year. SoFi reported earnings of $0.06 per share, beating the consensus estimate of $0.03 by $0.03, while revenues soared 32.7% year-over-year to $770.7 million, exceeding the $739 million forecast. The company also issued guidance for Q2, projecting earnings per share of $0.05 to $0.06, aligning with the $0.06 consensus, and revenues of $785 million to $805 million, topping the $783 million expected. For the full year, SoFi raised its FY25 outlook, anticipating earnings of $0.27 to $0.28 per share, above the $0.25 consensus and prior guidance of $0.25 to $0.27, with revenues now projected at $3.235 billion to $3.310 billion, surpassing the $3.21 billion consensus and earlier range of $3.2 billion to $3.275 billion.
Price Action: Shares of SoFi are up nearly 6% in premarket trading Tuesday, reaching $13.99. The $14.57 billion market-cap company has gained over 87% year-over-year, yet remains down 14.3% year-to-date.
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