SoFi Technologies and Payward, Kraken parent company, announced a partnership on September 3 that connects Sofi banking and dollar settlement services with Kraken crypto trading infrastructure. The deal runs both ways. Payward will join the SoFi Exchange Network (SEN), giving Kraken institutional clients access to around-the-clock U.S. dollar transfers outside normal banking hours. Kraken will also list SoFiUSD, SoFi bank-issued stablecoin redeemable one-to-one for dollars, putting it in front of the exchange retail, professional, and institutional customers. On the other side, SoFi will route crypto orders through Kraken Prime as an additional source of digital asset liquidity. The arrangement is expected to improve pricing for the roughly 15.8 million members already trading crypto inside SoFi app. The partnership landed on the same day the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency published its approval of SoFi stablecoin issuance subsidiary, a regulatory milestone that clears the path for the bank-issued token to operate under federal oversight. The simultaneous timing was deliberate, according to people familiar with the planning. SoFi wanted regulatory sign-off before announcing a major distribution partner for its stablecoin. SoFi shares rose about 2 percent on the announcement. Kraken is not publicly listed.
What the Deal Covers
Under the terms, Payward will also tap SoFi Big Business Banking division, which SoFi launched in April to combine enterprise banking, payments, and digital asset capabilities. The companies said they may extend the relationship into payments, treasury, and lending over time, though no financial terms were disclosed. Kraken has been expanding its institutional infrastructure throughout 2026. The exchange gained CFTC approval alongside prediction market platform Kalshi to offer perpetual crypto futures earlier this year, and its Prime brokerage business has been growing as a liquidity provider for banks and fintechs entering digital assets. SoFiUSD gives the stablecoin distribution well beyond SoFi own user base. Bank-issued stablecoins have struggled to gain traction against dominant players like Tether (USDT) and Circle (USDC), which together control the vast majority of the stablecoin market. A Kraken listing puts SoFiUSD in a competitive venue where users already hold and trade multiple dollar tokens. The token launched earlier in 2026 as a dollar-pegged payment token tied directly to Sofi bank deposits. Unlike Tether or USDC, SoFiUSD is issued by a nationally chartered bank, which means it sits under a different regulatory framework than crypto-native stablecoin issuers. That regulatory difference matters. Tether operates out of the British Virgin Islands with reserves held in short-term U.S. Treasury bills. Circle is incorporated in Ireland and publishes monthly attestations of its reserves. SoFi, by contrast, is a regulated U.S. bank subject to OCC supervision and federal reserve requirements.
Why It Matters for Stablecoin Competition
The partnership arrives as U.S. stablecoin regulation accelerates. The GENIUS Act, signed into law in July 2025, requires stablecoin issuers to obtain federal or state licenses by January 2027 and mandates one-to-one reserve backing. SoFi national bank charter gives it a structural advantage over non-bank issuers that must seek separate licensing. The OCC approval of SoFi stablecoin subsidiary on the same day as the Kraken announcement was not a coincidence. SoFi has been positioning itself as a regulated alternative to crypto-native stablecoin issuers, and the Kraken deal gives it a liquidity venue that can compete on distribution. The move also reflects a broader convergence between banking and crypto markets. Traditional financial institutions are increasingly building crypto infrastructure, while crypto exchanges are seeking banking licenses and regulatory approvals to offer services that were once exclusive to banks. Standard Chartered opened the first global systemically important bank crypto spot desk in Dubai last week. Fidelity launched its own stablecoin in 2025. JPMorgan expanded its Onyx blockchain payments network. Every major bank seems to be building in the same direction.
SEN Network and 24/7 Settlement
The SoFi Exchange Network, or SEN, is a real-time dollar settlement system that lets participating institutions move funds around the clock. Traditional wire transfers operate on ACH and Fedwire schedules that stop on weekends and holidays. SEN removes that constraint, which matters for crypto markets that trade 24 hours a day, seven days a week. For Kraken, joining SEN means its institutional clients can deposit and withdraw dollars without waiting for next-business-day settlement. The exchange has been pushing to reduce friction for large traders who move tens of millions of dollars per day and currently face delays when routing through correspondent banks. Payward is also using SoFi Big Business Banking for its own corporate banking needs, including treasury management and payment processing. That relationship predates the public partnership announcement and was part of the groundwork that made the broader deal possible. The settlement network connects directly to Fedwire and processes transactions in real time rather than batching them at the end of the day. That speed matters for market makers and arbitrageurs who need to move capital between venues quickly.
SoFi Prime Liquidity Deal
On the reverse side of the arrangement, SoFi will route customer crypto trades through Kraken Prime, the exchange institutional brokerage arm. This gives SoFi access to deeper order books and tighter spreads than it can source on its own. SoFi has offered crypto trading since 2023, but the execution quality has lagged behind dedicated crypto exchanges. Routing through Kraken Prime is expected to narrow that gap and improve fill prices for retail and professional traders alike. The arrangement mirrors what other banks have done. Goldman Sachs partnered with Galaxy Digital for crypto execution. Fidelity Digital Assets provides liquidity to several fintech platforms. The pattern is consistent: banks want crypto exposure but lack the plumbing to execute efficiently, so they plug into specialist venues. For SoFi, the Kraken deal also means it can offer better pricing on stablecoin-to-dollar conversions, which matters as SoFiUSD gains adoption. Users holding SoFiUSD on Kraken will be able to move tokens back to SoFi bank accounts through SEN, creating a closed loop between the exchange and the bank. That kind of integration is rare in the stablecoin market, where most tokens operate independently of any single banking partner.
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