Kraken and SoFi Strike Deal Linking Crypto Trading to Banking Rails

On Thursday, Payward – the firm that owns the Kraken exchange – and fintech company SoFi Technologies revealed a partnership that will send SoFi customers' digital asset orders through Kraken's institutional trading platform and list SoFi's stablecoin on the exchange.

Under the agreement, SoFi will channel its digital asset order flow to Kraken Prime, Kraken's prime brokerage service that went live in 2025.

Kraken Prime does not fill trades from a single order book; instead, it uses smart order routing to check prices and liquidity across multiple venues and executes at the best available fill. SoFi said the app experience for customers will remain unchanged.

Payward will also become a participant in the SoFi Exchange Network – the bank's real-time settlement system – and will list SoFiUSD, SoFi's bank-issued stablecoin, on Kraken.

In return, Kraken Prime's institutional and business clients will obtain access to SoFi's business banking services and round-the-clock fiat settlement. The two firms said qualified custody offerings would come later.

SoFi operates under a national bank charter and has 15.8 million members. This deal is the latest in a string of collaborations between Kraken and established financial institutions, following agreements with Deutsche Börse on forex and derivatives infrastructure, Nasdaq on a tokenized equities gateway, and Franklin Templeton on tokenizing ETFs.

The announcement follows SoFi, a digital-only lender, having become last year the first US bank with a national charter to offer crypto services to retail customers.

SoFiUSD is coming to Kraken.

Soon you'll hold, buy & sell SoFiUSD right in your Kraken account, through @Payward's partnership with @SoFi.

SoFi members get better prices, with @KrakenPrimeHQ pulling liquidity from across the market.

Full details: https://t.co/Mue5nJ4Ryj

— Kraken (@krakenfx) September 3, 2026

SoFi's recently launched crypto platform allows members to buy, sell and hold bitcoin directly inside their bank accounts.

Kraken, like other crypto exchanges, is moving into conventional finance, letting users trade stocks, bonds and other assets. The exchange has marketed its app as a "primary account for everything."