SoFi and Kraken team up to blur the line between banking and crypto

SoFi Technologies and Payward, the parent company of crypto exchange Kraken, announced a strategic partnership on September 3 that essentially lets each company do what the other one does best. SoFi gets deeper crypto distribution. Kraken gets real banking pipes. The deal has two core components. First, Payward joins SoFi’s Exchange Network (SEN), giving Kraken and its institutional clients access to 24/7 real-time USD settlements, the kind of always-on fiat plumbing that crypto trading demands but traditional banks rarely provide. Second, SoFi’s bank-issued stablecoin, SoFiUSD, will be listed on the Kraken platform, available to both retail and institutional users. What each side actually gets For Kraken, the SEN integration solves a persistent headache. Crypto markets never close, but banking systems historically operate on business hours. Real-time USD settlement around the clock means Kraken’s institutional clients can move dollars in and out without waiting for a wire to clear on Monday morning. For SoFi, the deal pushes its stablecoin into one of the largest crypto trading venues in the world. SoFiUSD is pegged 1:1 to the US dollar and issued directly by SoFi Bank, which make...