The news: SoFi will relaunch its crypto investing platform and will introduce self-serve international money transfers powered by blockchain technology by year’s end, per a press release.

How we got here: SoFi pulled out of the crypto arena in 2023 citing regulatory roadblocks for business. 

But as friendlier regulators drive a new crypto hype cycle, SoFi joins a host of other financial institutions trying to get involved in the industry. 

• Fiserv launched its own stablecoin and inked a partnership with both PayPal’s PYUSD and Mastercard.
• Block and Shopify started to accept on-chain payments at POS.
• Early Warning Services and The Clearing House are mulling their own institutional stablecoin. 

Remittance benefits: Crypto-integrations directly benefit remittance senders through their ability to dodge FX fees and speed up transfers.