Student Loan Refinancing Firm Enters Crypto Space With Trading Platform

The United States is one of the biggest markets for student loans. The country’s student debt sits over $1.6 trillion, and this puts the entities which offer these loans in a position to make healthy profits from their investments.

Many of the entities in the business find the current business model sustainable, and there is no need to make any changes to their operations.

With the loans that are still to be repaid and future loans that will be issued, there is a lot of profit in the market.

While most lenders are comfortable with the way things are, one student loan company has stepped out of its comfort zone to make changes to their operations.

SoFi enters the crypto market

SoFi, a student loan refinancing company, has entered the cryptocurrency market. The firm announced the launch of a trading platform for Litecoin, Etheruem, and Bitcoin.

According to reports on the launch of the platform, SoFi’s clients will be able to buy and sell cryptocurrency via a partnership between the student loan refinance firm and Coinbase, one of the leading cryptocurrency exchanges in the US.

The services will be available to all of SoFi’s clients except those in New Jersey and New York.

Cryptocurrencies become the latest product available from SoFi as the firm continues to expand its business. Currently, SoFi offers many services, such as exchange-traded funds (EFTs) and stock shares.

The company’s main business is student loans and mortgages, but they have since ventured into other financial options as shown above.

According to Anthony Noto, SoFi’s CEO, the company’s interest in student loans and mortgages has gone down over the years, and this is shown by a 7% staff cut by the firm in 2018.

Client interest shifting towards digital assets

Noto said that several of their clients have shown a lot of interest in digital currencies.

He said that cryptocurrencies have become one of the most sought after investment opportunities, and hence, the company is making a move to enter this market.

He added that despite this growing interest, the asset class remains largely elusive to mainstream America and SoFi aims to change that.

SoFi first announced that it would be adding cryptocurrencies to its platform in February although the crypto trading options has only been officially launched now.

Between the time the announcement was made in February and now, Bitcoin entered a bull run that saw the crypto’s price rise past $13,000. Currently, the leading cryptocurrency has experienced a price decline that sees it trade around $8,300.