SoFi Technologies and Kraken parent Payward announced a partnership on Thursday that links Kraken to SoFi's dollar settlement network and puts SoFi's stablecoin on Kraken's exchange. Kraken will also become an added liquidity source for crypto trades made through the SoFi app, and SoFi shares gained on the news.
SoFi Technologies and Payward, the parent company of Kraken, announced Thursday that the companies will connect Kraken to SoFi's dollar settlement network and add SoFi's stablecoin to Kraken's exchange.
Payward will join the SoFi Exchange Network, known as SEN, allowing Kraken's institutional clients to clear and settle U.S. dollar transactions at any time, including outside conventional banking hours. Payward Co-CEO David Ripley said the partnership lets crypto reach people through the app they already use for their paycheck, connecting them to deeper markets built to operate at scale.
As part of the deal, Kraken will list SoFi's stablecoin SoFiUSD for retail, professional, and institutional customers. SoFi will also use Kraken Prime as an additional source of liquidity for crypto trades placed through the SoFi app, which the companies said could improve trade pricing for SoFi customers. Qualified custody services may be added later.
SoFi CEO Anthony Noto said, according to Decrypt: "The financial system should not shut down when markets stay open."
SOFI shares jumped more than 2% on the news. The stock remains down more than 4% over the last five trading sessions, and it is down 31% year-to-date.
The deal extends Payward's push into regulated finance. Kraken Financial secured access to the Federal Reserve's payment systems in March, and days later Payward formed a tokenized-equities partnership with Nasdaq. SoFi introduced its stablecoin in December and expanded SoFiUSD to the Solana blockchain in May.
Sources: SoFi Newsroom, Decrypt, Bitcoin.com
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