Crypto Users Get 4.4% Interest-Bearing Deposits From SoFi
SoFi now pays 4.40% APY on a tokenized bank deposit for crypto users, but interest and FDIC insurance end once the money converts into SoFi’s stablecoin.
Key Takeaways
- Rate sheet: 4.31368% interest rate, 4.40% APY
- SOFIE excluded from SoFi’s $3 million coverage program
- KC Fed: idle stablecoins estimated at 21.2%
- GENIUS Act bars stablecoin issuers from paying interest
SoFi announced SoFi Earn, or SOFIE, on October 22 as its fifth new crypto offering in under a year, with the rollout to SoFi Crypto members running through November.
Why SoFi needed a second token
The design follows from federal law. The GENIUS Act, signed in July 2025, bars payment stablecoin issuers from paying holders interest or yield for holding or using the coin. SoFiUSD, which trades under the ticker SOFID and launched in December 2025 as the first stablecoin issued by a U.S. national bank, falls under that rule. SoFi already uses it to settle its card program across Mastercard’s network.
A bank deposit can pay interest. SoFi’s disclosures describe SOFIE as a deposit liability of SoFi Bank and state that it is not a payment stablecoin. Each unit equals $1 on deposit, so interest stays with SOFIE while SoFiUSD handles movement onchain. Both appear in the SoFi Crypto app, but they are separate legal products.
SOFIE
Legal form: Deposit at SoFi Bank
Interest: 4.40% APY, variable
FDIC: Insured up to applicable limits
Movement: Redemption to a SoFi account or conversion only
SoFiUSD (SOFID)
Legal form: Payment stablecoin
Interest: None from the issuer
FDIC: Not insured
Movement: Supported external wallets, 24/7
The exit door is a conversion
Under the tokenized deposit account agreement, customers cannot send SOFIE to an external wallet, another person, an exchange or a decentralised application unless SoFi enables that feature under additional terms, which it does not promise to do. Customers do not receive a private key, because SOFIE is recorded in addresses controlled by SoFi or its service providers. The account also comes without a debit card, ACH, wire or Zelle access.
Money leaves in one of two ways: redemption into a linked SoFi account, or conversion into SoFiUSD. Legally, a conversion redeems the deposit and separately issues the stablecoin. The amount stops being insured once that redemption is completed in SoFi’s bank records, even if the blockchain has not yet caught up. The reverse works the same way: converted funds become an insured deposit again when the dollars are credited to the account, not when stablecoins arrive in a wallet.
Access is also narrower than for a public token. SOFIE accounts are individual only, with no joint or trust versions, and require an approved SoFi Crypto account along with U.S. residency, age and identity checks.
Large SoFi savers can lose coverage by switching
The insurance terms matter most for customers who already keep large balances at SoFi. Regular SoFi Checking and Savings balances can be enrolled in the SoFi Insured Deposit Program, which spreads money across partner banks for FDIC coverage of up to $3 million. SOFIE is not eligible. Its rate sheet says balances stay at SoFi Bank and are added to the customer’s other SoFi Bank deposits in the same ownership category, against the FDIC’s standard $250,000 limit.
Moving $300,000 from enrolled savings into SOFIE
SOFIE held at SoFi Bank$300,000
Standard FDIC limit, one bank$250,000
Uninsured, at minimum $50,000
More is uninsured if other SoFi Bank deposits in the same ownership category already use part of the limit.
FDIC coverage also protects against one specific risk: SoFi Bank failing. SoFi’s agreement says it does not cover scams, unauthorized transactions, lost credentials or a fall in the value of crypto bought with converted funds.
What 4.40% earns on money between trades
The rate sheet, effective October 20, lists a 4.31368% interest rate. The 4.40% APY assumes the money and its monthly-compounded interest stay deposited for a full year with no other transactions. Interest accrues daily on the end-of-day balance, from the day funds are credited through the day before they leave. SoFi can change the rate at any time with no limit on size or frequency, and there is no minimum balance.
SoFi’s launch example is a member holding $5,000 for a future crypto purchase. If the current rate holds, that balance would earn about $17.70 over 30 days and roughly $53 over 90 days, before taxes. The fee sheet charges nothing for the account or for direct SOFIE–SoFiUSD conversions. Network and third-party fees are shown before each transaction, and buying other crypto follows SoFi Crypto’s separate trading fees.
Crypto exchanges compete for the same balances. Some, including Coinbase, have offered rewards on USDC held on their platforms. The GENIUS Act’s interest ban names issuers, and whether it should also reach rewards paid by platforms has been debated in Congress since the law passed. Exchange balances can be traded without a conversion step, but a stablecoin is not a bank deposit and carries no FDIC insurance.
The idle-money figure rests on an assumption
SoFi backs its pitch with what it calls Fed research estimating that $64 billion, or 21.2% of stablecoins, sits idle. The source is a Kansas City Fed briefing published April 10 by payments specialist Franklin Noll, which notes that its views are the author’s and not necessarily the Federal Reserve’s.
The 21.2% is an estimate, not a measurement. Noll writes that data on idle stablecoins is scarce, so he took a 2024 Forbes estimate of 30% and lowered it to offset a larger trading share found in November 2025 data. Applied to the $300.5 billion market he used, that gives about $64 billion. The category also covers wallets whose keys are lost, which no one can move, and forgotten wallets, whose owners would first have to remember them.
Estimated stablecoin use, Kansas City Fed briefing (November 2025 data)
Trading assets (exchanges, DeFi, bridges)
Transfers
Idle (assumed)
Payments, 0.7%
Cash waiting for the next purchase falls in a different part of that chart. Noll counts capital parked between trades as a trading asset, part of the 48.8% held on exchanges and in DeFi protocols. That puts SOFIE up against exchange balances that can be traded instantly and, on some platforms, have earned rewards.
Paying more is one way to pull that cash back into a bank. Research on how deposit rates influence stablecoin demand suggests banks can compete through what they pay savers, and SOFIE tests that inside SoFi’s own app. A balance that goes truly dormant is a different case: under SoFi’s terms, an abandoned SOFIE account is eventually handed to the state as unclaimed property.
What would show it working
With the rollout running through November, two signals would show how much money SOFIE draws in and how useful it becomes.
01
Outstanding SOFIE. SoFi’s agreement says the public blockchain may show the total amount of SOFIE outstanding, giving a running count of deposits as the rollout completes.
02
Direct transfers. Whether SoFi switches on direct SOFIE transfers, which its agreement leaves open but does not promise.
Transfers between eligible SoFi customers are among the options the agreement lists. If SoFi enables them, the insured deposit itself could change hands, and SoFiUSD would no longer be the only way to send that value to someone else.
This article is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial or investment advice. Rates are variable, fees may apply, and deposit insurance is subject to eligibility and coverage limits.
Kosta has reported on cryptocurrency markets and blockchain infrastructure since 2020, bringing over six years of hands-on experience in the crypto industry built through daily tracking of markets, trends, and emerging blockchain developments. Specializing in Bitcoin on-chain analysis, institutional ETF flows, and digital asset price action, his work at Coindoo has been cited by other news agencies and consistently covers market developments with a focus on data-driven reporting across Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, and XRP. Over the years, Kosta has contributed to multiple crypto media outlets in different regions, authoring over 6,000 articles across the sector. His reporting spans cryptocurrency markets and the broader fintech industry, tracking not only price action but also the technological and regulatory forces shaping the ecosystem. To support his analysis, Kosta actively leverages on-chain data and metrics from leading platforms such as Santiment, Glassnode, and CryptoQuant, enabling deeper, evidence-based market insights. He believes in the power of transparency and the data that underpins the blockchain ecosystem. His academic background in Marketing Management from Denmark further complements his analytical approach, adding a strong understanding of communication strategy and content positioning to his work.
