SoFi said on Friday it has added native Solana (SOL) deposits to its banking app, allowing 13.7 million users to move tokens on-chain from external wallets into a US-regulated bank. The company announced the update in a Feb. 27 post on X.
This is the first time a U.S.-based national-chartered bank has facilitated customers making on-chain deposits. This model differs from the way many banks have offered cryptocurrency as a product, where customers can only buy or sell it through a brokerage. SOL price is down 5.48% in the last day and traded near $81.4 at publication, according to CoinMarketCap data.
Source: CoinMarketCap
On-Chain Transfers Meet Regulated Banking
With this new feature, customers will be able to utilize the same user interface to buy, sell, hold, and deposit Solana (SOL). The bank app will display their balances similar to their checking and savings accounts.
With this, SoFi has made it possible for customers to link a publicly accessible blockchain with federally supervised banking systems. Additionally, SoFi has provided a model for a national-chartered bank to operate as an intermediary to a public blockchain. It is significantly different from the custodial models that fintech firms such as PayPal and Robinhood provide.
The current brokerage-style products available to customers regarding cryptocurrencies do not enable direct token transfer on a blockchain. It only permits customers to gain price exposure to a particular cryptocurrency. With the SoFi solution, customers can engage in wallet-to-wallet transactions, eliminating the need for a third-party exchange to transfer funds into their accounts.
In doing so, the number of steps involved in funding their accounts is reduced, and transaction times are accelerated. Any type of digital asset service offered by SoFi must adhere to both banking and consumer protection regulations.
SoFi operates under a US national bank charter subject to federal oversight. Digital assets are not FDIC-insured, and availability varies by jurisdiction. The rollout comes as US banking regulators continue evaluating digital asset custody and settlement frameworks.
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Market Structure and Network Impact
According to Yahoo Finance data, SoFi currently has over $50 billion in assets and is one of the largest digital-first banks in the United States. As a result, Solana has become more exposed to a large and regulated retail distribution channel separate from crypto-exchanges.
SoFi’s step marks a shift from passively storing crypto to actively facilitating connections between regulated banking systems and public blockchain networks.
Also, the move by SoFi signals increased testing of token-based movements in traditional financial applications, including settlement rails and on-chain balance management. Millions of retail users have a new means to access a regulated cryptocurrency on-ramp.
Why It Matters
SoFi’s provision of native Solana deposits demonstrates a growing trend toward integrating regulated banking systems with public blockchain networks as regulatory environments for custody, tokenized deposits and payment rails continue to evolve.
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