Student loan refinancing platform SoFi has dived into the crypto arena by introducing a digital asset trading service, the company announced on Wednesday.
Over 800,000 users of the company can now trade three major digital assets - Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Litecoin - on SoFi’s platform.
The service has been launched in partnership with US-based crypto exchange Coinbase, which will provide liquidity for crypto trading. In addition, the partnership will also allow the traders to check crypto price movements.
The company’s decision to introduce the new service was fueled by demand among its customer base.
“Feedback from our members has made it clear that a significant percentage are not only interested in learning more about Cryptocurrencies but are also already buying and selling crypto,” Anthony Noto, chief executive of the company, said.
“We're very pleased to be adding this new product to SoFi Invest, as access, education, and keeping costs low for our members is at the heart of what we do.”
To offer crypto trading, the San Francisco-based company has created a separate entity called SoFi Digital Assets, LLC.
Can it compete with the major players in the market?
The platform has also set the minimum order size of every transaction at $10, while per day orders for each trader are capped at $50,000. The platform will also charge a markup of 1.25 percent on each transaction.
Though the company is planning to roll out its newly launched crypto trading services in all 50 states of the United States, it will not serve New York and New Jersey residents in the initial phase.
Similar to SoFi, many fintech startups have recently jumped into the crypto trading industry. Major Bitcoin wallet provider Blockchain .com in July launched a crypto exchange platform in 240 markets and 20 US states. Roger Ver-led Bitcoin.com also dived into the industry with a trading platform, offering a unique “negative” trading fee to the traders.
