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A fintech company with a banking charter just did what Tether and Circle never could: issue a stablecoin with the full weight of a US national bank behind it, then pipe it directly into a consumer app used by nearly 15 million people.
SoFi Technologies is rolling out SoFiUSD, its dollar-pegged stablecoin, to the 14.7 million members on its platform. The token lives on both Ethereum and Solana, and it’s fully backed 1:1 by cash reserves held at the Federal Reserve.
How SoFiUSD got here
The stablecoin first went live on December 18, 2025, making it the first stablecoin issued by a US national bank on a public, permissionless blockchain.
The initial deployment landed on Ethereum, targeted at enterprise transactions and settlements.
Then on May 5, 2026, SoFi expanded the token to Solana. The reasoning was straightforward: lower costs and faster transaction speeds.
A Mastercard partnership announced in March 2026 added another layer, opening the door for global card settlement options using SoFiUSD.
SoFi’s crypto business, which the company relaunched after previously pulling back, generated $121.6 million in transaction revenue in Q1 2026.
What makes SoFiUSD different from USDC and USDT
The stablecoin market has been dominated by Circle’s USDC and Tether’s USDT, neither of which is issued by a bank. They’re issued by companies that hold reserves and promise redemption, but they operate outside the traditional banking regulatory framework.
SoFiUSD flips that model. Because SoFi holds a national bank charter, the stablecoin falls under OCC oversight. It also benefits from FDIC insurance on the underlying deposits.
The token supports standard mint and burn operations on both Ethereum and Solana, with near-instant settlement available around the clock.
SoFi has positioned SoFiUSD as infrastructure, not just a product. The company is targeting banks, fintech companies, and enterprises as clients for the underlying rails, with initial availability focused on internal and institutional use cases before the broader consumer rollout now underway.
What this means for investors and the stablecoin market
JPMorgan’s JPM Coin operates on a permissioned network, which limits its utility. PayPal’s PYUSD, launched in 2023, comes from a payments company rather than a chartered bank. SoFiUSD occupies a unique position: bank-issued, publicly traded company, permissionless blockchain, consumer app with massive reach.
The Mastercard partnership is particularly worth watching. Card settlement on stablecoin rails could compress the multi-day settlement cycle that merchants currently endure down to near-instant finality.
The regulatory angle cuts both ways. OCC oversight provides credibility but also imposes constraints. Any future features like yield-sharing or tokenized deposit functionality would need to clear regulatory hurdles that Circle and Tether simply don’t face.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
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