SoFi, Payward agree to link banking network with Kraken infrastructure

SoFi Technologies and Payward, the parent company of crypto exchange Kraken, have agreed to connect SoFi's banking network with Kraken's trading infrastructure, the two firms said in a statement shared with The Block on Thursday.

Under the arrangement, Payward will join the SoFi Exchange Network (SEN), SoFi's real-time settlement network, and will list SoFiUSD on Kraken. SoFi, in turn, will use Kraken Prime as an additional source of digital-asset liquidity for trades executed through its app.

The deal expands SEN — so far available to SoFi's enterprise banking clients — to Kraken's institutional customers. Users on both platforms will be able to move dollars and manage liquidity outside traditional banking hours, according to the companies.

"Money and markets are converging into a new financial paradigm, and the infrastructure underneath has to catch up," said Payward Co-CEO David Ripley. He added that millions of people will buy their first crypto asset inside the app they already use for their paycheck, and that the infrastructure behind that experience should connect them to deep, liquid markets built to operate at scale.

SoFi's crypto business in context

SoFi launched the settlement network in April alongside its Big Business Banking offering, which combines its enterprise banking and digital-asset operations. Crypto transaction revenue reached $134.3 million in the second quarter, up 10% from the first quarter, though it remained a modest slice of SoFi's $1.2 billion in adjusted net revenue.

For Payward, the agreement is the latest step in broadening its business beyond the Kraken exchange into financial infrastructure, custody and regulated services. In May, the company applied to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency for a national trust company charter to establish Payward National Trust Company. Its Wyoming-chartered bank, Kraken Financial, received a Federal Reserve master account in March, giving it direct access to the central bank's payment system.