SoFi Technologies (NASDAQ: SOFI), the US digital finance platform that offers lending, banking, investing and crypto services, rose after its banking arm went live with stablecoin settlement across its whole debit and credit card programme. SoFi Bank, N.A. became the first nationally chartered, FDIC-insured US bank to run live stablecoin settlement in production on a major card network.
Shares closed Tuesday at $17.16, up 1.12% from Monday’s close of $16.97, having ranged between $17.005 and $17.96 during the session. The stock remains down around 35% so far this year and trades in the lower half of its 52-week range of $14.88 to $32.73.
The migration covers SoFi’s entire card programme, which is expected to process more than $25bn in annualised payment volume, moving it onto blockchain rails via Mastercard, the global card payments network hosting the settlement.
SoFiUSD, the stablecoin used, is fully reserved and redeemable 1:1 for cash, issued by SoFi Bank under supervision from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), the regulator of nationally chartered banks. Merchants receive settlement funds into a SoFi Bank account and can withdraw as cash without holding stablecoins themselves or building new infrastructure.
SoFi and Mastercard first announced their partnership in March, so Tuesday’s go-live arrived roughly six months later. SoFi is now in talks with large US merchants about adopting the settlement method, and it is exploring cross-border payments and remittances with Mastercard, while Galileo, SoFi’s technology platform, could extend the same rails to other banks.
In six months, SoFi and Mastercard took stablecoin settlement from an idea to a live product that materially improves how money moves for businesses. Merchants do not need to hold stablecoins, build new infrastructure or change how they operate.
Anthony Noto, CEO, SoFi Technologies
The launch marks a regulatory milestone as much as a technical one: no other nationally chartered, FDIC-insured US bank has previously put stablecoin settlement into live production on a major card network, giving SoFi Bank a first-mover position within the OCC’s supervisory framework.