United States data transfer network Plaid has added four major cryptocurrency exchanges to its platform, giving users the ability to connect their digital asset portfolios to other applications more easily. Crypto platforms Binance.US, Gemini, Robinhood and SoFi are now supported by the Plaid network, the company announced Thursday. Support for additional platforms, such as Blockchain.com and BitGo, is scheduled to commence later this year. We now support leading digital asset exchanges on the Plaid network, including @BinanceUS, @Gemini, @Robinhood & @SoFi with plans to support additional crypto providers like @Blockchain and @BitGo later this year. https://t.co/I1QlXmL8hQ — Plaid (@Plaid) July …

Billionaire Chamath Palihapitiya has sold 15% of his position in the crypto and stock trading platform and finance company SoFi. The company went public earlier this year through a merger with a blank-check company led by Palihapitiya, and was valued originally at $8.65 billion and now has a market cap of $17.04 billion. Palihapitiya, a Bitcoin billionaire and former senior executive at Facebook, confirmed his move to sell SoFi stock via a tweet on Nov. 19. 1/ Many of us are trying to make sense of what’s happening in the markets these days. Here are some observations and moves we’ve …

Blockchain-powered fintech startup Figure Technologies has secured major funding for its mission to improve the financial services industry with Provenance blockchain. Figure announced Thursday that the company raised $200 million in a Series D round led by Morgan Creek’s crypto venture capital arm Morgan Creek Digital Funding and digital asset-focused equity fund 10T Holdings. Featuring other existing investors like Digital Currency Group, the new funding brings Figure’s valuation to $3.2 billion. Figure co-founder Mike Cagney said that the new funding will help the company close new deals for its lending operations, build out its payments tool Figure Pay and seek …

In an announcement on Wednesday, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) granted SoFi a conditional license to operate as a national bank in the United States. The OCC is the office of the U.S. Treasury that regulates federal banks throughout the country. SoFi, which stands for Social Finance, is a fintech startup that has historically provided loans and refinancing services. In 2019, the firm launched crypto trading, and last December, the New York Department of Financial Services granted SoFi a coveted BitLicense. This new license will enable the firm to offer a wider range of services. Just …

California-based and crypto-friendly financial firm Social Finance — SoFi — is acquiring the digital payment platform Galileo. In an April 7 press release, SoFi announced that it has signed an agreement to pay $1.2 billion for Galileo Financial Technologies. According to a CNBC report, the payment will consist of $75 million in cash, $875 million in stock, and $250 million in seller financing debt. SoFi CEO Anthony Noto addressed how the partnership will help in the current financial market: “Together with Galileo, we will partner to build on our companies’ strengths to drive even greater financial technology innovation, making those …

California-based financial firm SoFi has acquired a BitLicense from the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS), the regulator said in a statement on Dec. 3. SoFi is now one of 24 crypto-related firms that have obtained a BitLicense since 2015, Bloomberg Law’s crypto reporter Lydia Beyoud tweeted the same day. Specifically, SoFi has acquired two licenses — a virtual currency license (BitLicense) and a money transmitter license — that will allow SoFi Digital Assets to offer crypto trading services to its New York customers. According to the announcement, the firm is authorized to support a total of six …

California-based financial firm SoFi has added zero-fee cryptocurrency trading to its platform SoFi Invest. According to an official announcement on Sept. 25, crypto trading on SoFi Invest joins the list of previously introduced trading of stocks and exchange-traded funds. SoFi Invest now offers clients to buy three major cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH) and Litecoin (LTC), with the firm claiming that users do not even need to set up a crypto wallet, according to the platform’s website. Increased demand for crypto from clients To welcome new crypto users on its platform, SoFi also offers a $25 bonus for …

Morgan Creek-backed blockchain equity loan platform Figure has completed a $1 billion “uncommitted” financing facility via blockchain, the firm announced in a press release on May 9. Custodied on Figure’s blockchain platform Provenance.io, the new facility was closed along with major global investment banking firm Jefferies and multi-billion dollar financial services company WSFS Financial Corporation. According to the press release, Figure has been working with Jefferies and WSFS for more than six months to deploy the recent financing facility, with WSFS Institutional Service participating as a member of Provenance and acting as trustee for Jefferies. Mike Cagney, CEO and co-founder …

The financial services technologies (FinTech) industry has had over 45 venture capital investments, equivalent to US$3 billion in global ventures in 2013. Kantox reported that the number of deals in 2014 and 2015 is projected to hit around 60-70, as the global growth rate of the industry reaches a 26%. Moreover, Accenture’s “The Rise of Fintech: New York’s Opportunity for Tech Leadership” report on global investments in Fintech is expected to rise to US$8 billion by 2018 in wake of open-source software and cloud technology lowering the barriers to entry for startups. Many startups have emerged since 2013, with new …