Payward, the parent company of cryptocurrency exchange Kraken, and fintech company and bank SoFi Technologies announced a strategic partnership on Thursday that will connect SoFi's banking and dollar-settlement infrastructure with Kraken's digital-asset trading and liquidity network.

The agreement will allow the companies to use each other's financial infrastructure as SoFi expands its cryptocurrency services and Kraken deepens its relationships with traditional financial institutions. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Kraken Gains Access to SoFi's Dollar Network

Under the agreement, Payward will join the SoFi Exchange Network (SEN), allowing eligible Kraken institutional clients to move and settle U.S. dollars around the clock. The companies said SEN enables 24/7 settlement beyond traditional banking hours — a capability crypto markets have long lacked, since conventional dollar transfers through banking rails typically pause on nights and weekends while digital-asset trading continues nonstop.

Kraken will also list SoFiUSD, a dollar-backed stablecoin issued by SoFi. According to the companies, the asset will be available to Kraken's retail, professional and institutional clients.

SoFi, meanwhile, will use Kraken Prime, Payward's institutional prime brokerage service, as an additional source of digital-asset liquidity. Kraken Prime will support execution for cryptocurrency trades made through the SoFi app, the companies said. Qualified custody services could be added as the relationship expands.

The companies said the partnership could eventually extend to payments, financial management, lending and other digital-asset services.

SoFi Turns to Kraken for Crypto Liquidity

The partnership comes as SoFi expands its presence in the cryptocurrency market after re-entering direct crypto services.

SoFi suspended direct cryptocurrency trading in December 2023 before relaunching the service in November 2025. The company said it became the first nationally chartered U.S. bank to offer customers direct buying, selling and custody of Bitcoin and Ethereum — a step that followed a shift in the U.S. regulatory environment toward greater clarity for banks engaging with digital assets.

SoFi launched SoFiUSD in December 2025 and introduced Big Business Banking in April 2026.

The partnership also gives Kraken another connection to traditional financial services. The crypto exchange has established institutional relationships with Deutsche Börse involving foreign exchange and derivatives, Nasdaq on tokenized equities through xStocks, and Franklin Templeton on ETF tokenization.

Why This Matters

The partnership between SoFi and Kraken's parent, Payward, reflects a broader effort by financial institutions and crypto companies to connect traditional banking infrastructure with digital-asset markets. For SoFi, tapping an established crypto liquidity provider like Kraken Prime lets the bank scale its crypto offering without building the trading infrastructure in-house; for Kraken, access to SoFi's around-the-clock dollar settlement network addresses one of the recurring friction points institutional traders face when moving funds between crypto venues and the traditional banking system.