SoFi, a nationwide bank in the United States, launches an on-chain USD stablecoin, as traditional financial institutions accelerate into the crypto ecosystem.

【Crypto World】Traditional financial institutions are accelerating their exploration of blockchain asset issuance. Recently, the nationwide US bank SoFi launched the SoFiUSD stablecoin, backed 1:1 by US dollar cash reserves, becoming the first nationwide US bank to issue a stablecoin on a public blockchain.

What does this move signify? SoFiUSD has been deployed on Ethereum, providing near real-time, low-cost settlement services 24/7 for banks, fintech companies, and corporate clients. In simple terms, this breaks the traditional financial settlement time and cost barriers. More interestingly, SoFi will hold these reserves in a Federal Reserve account and share the profits with partners—an approach that is both compliant and innovative.

In terms of application scenarios, SoFiUSD is planned to be quite comprehensive: white-label issuance, direct integration into settlement and payment processes, bank card network integration, retail clearing and settlement, cross-border transfers via SoFi Pay, and even offline POS payments. This is not just simple on-chain issuance but aims to embed stablecoins into real business workflows.

Moreover, SoFi plans to gradually open this feature to its user base—meaning millions of retail users could soon access on-chain US dollars fully backed by a licensed bank.

Interestingly, this year’s actions are not isolated. Klarna launched KlarnaUSD, Western Union issued USDPT, and Stripe also introduced USDB—traditional financial and fintech giants are all competing in the stablecoin race. SoFi’s move, to some extent, reflects a turning point: stablecoins are shifting from being tools for crypto natives to becoming a key battleground for mainstream financial institutions.