Cathie Wood’s ARK buys $1.5M SOFI shares as SoFi exits crypto

November 30, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Cathie Wood’s ARK buys .5M SOFI shares as SoFi exits crypto

Cathie Wood’s ARK has been actively accumulating shares of SoFi, which announced plans to terminate crypto services by the end of 2023.

ARK Invest, a cryptocurrency investment firm founded by Bitcoin (BTC) advocate Cathie Wood, bought about $1.5 million of SoFi Technologies (SOFI) shares on Nov. 29, the day the latter announced its exit from crypto.

On Nov. 29, ARK bought 200,275 SOFI shares to allocate to its ARK Fintech Innovation ETF (ARKF), according to a trade notification seen by Cointelegraph. The amount is worth $1.47 million, based on SOFI’s closing price on Nov. 29, or $7.35 a share, according to data from TradingView.

ARK’s latest SOFI purchase came on the day SoFi Technologies officially announced its decision to terminate cryptocurrency services by Dec. 19, 2023.

“After careful consideration, we’ve made the decision to discontinue our crypto services by the end of this year,” SoFi said, directing its customers to migrate their crypto holdings to the online crypto wallet Blockchain.com.

ARK has been actively buying SoFi shares throughout the year, buying a total of 1,772,991 SOFI for ARKF so far. ARKF’s SoFi exposure is worth around $13 million at today’s prices.

SoFi stock has seen some volatility in 2023, surging to $11.45 in July after starting the year at just $4.5. SoFi shares have been gradually declining since then, dropping below $7 in mid-November.

*SoFi Technologies (SOFI) shares’ year-to-date price chart. Source: TradingView*

In addition to buying SoFi, ARK has been actively buying Robinhood (HOOD) shares, bagging 221,759 HOOD on Nov. 29. Robinhood’s trading app allows one to buy and trade cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin in the United States. The platform officially announced plans to expand its business into the U.K. on Nov. 30, without mentioning whether cryptocurrency would be part of the offering.

While buying SoFi and Robinhood, ARK has continued to sell the Coinbase (COIN) stock. On Nov. 29, ARK sold around 38,000 COIN shares from the ARKF ETF, totaling nearly $5 million.

ARK did not immediately respond to Cointelegraph’s request for comment.

Magazine: How to protect your crypto in a volatile market — Bitcoin OGs and experts weigh in

SoFi Technologies to cease crypto services by Dec. 19

November 29, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

“You can agree to have your account migrated to Blockchain.com or close your account instead,” the company wrote.

United States personal finance company SoFi Technologies will end crypto trading services for its users by Dec. 19.

According to the Nov. 29 announcement, new crypto account openings on SoFi are suspended immediately. All existing SoFi crypto users must either migrate their accounts to Blockchain.com or close them. In addition, customers residing in Hawaii, Louisiana, New Jersey, Nevada, Tennessee, Texas or Virginia must liquidate certain altcoins unsupported on Blockchain.com prior to account transfers. New York clients of SoFi crypto must close their accounts by January 2024 due to the unavailability of Blockchain.com in the state.

The company did not state a reason for ending its crypto services. However, reports have suggested that the sector is facing wider scrutiny from banking regulators. The decision to end SoFi’s cryptocurrency accounts does not impact other SoFi Invest offerings, such as brokerage accounts and Individual Retirement Arrangements (IRAs).

In its latest earnings report, SoFi disclosed that it held $139 million worth of Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH) and other altcoins in clients’ deposits, up from $107 million a year earlier. SoFi previously stated that “the Federal Reserve determined that SoFi Digital Assets, LLC is engaged in certain crypto-related activities that the Federal Reserve has not found to be permissible for a bank holding company under the Bank Holding Company Act and Regulation Y.” However, the company was allowed to continue its crypto operations for two years and three-year extensions thereafter, provided that it did not expand the scope of such activities or increase its risk exposure to digital assets.

Data transfer network Plaid integrates 4 major crypto exchanges

July 14, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

The San Francisco-based fintech company now supports Binance.US, Gemini, Robinhood and SoFi accounts.

United States data transfer network Plaid has added four major cryptocurrency exchanges to its platform, giving users the ability to more easily connect their digital asset portfolios to other applications.

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 14, 2022

The integrations are intended to help crypto users “bridge data portability gaps” by allowing them to securely share their account information with other applications and services. Information such as asset assets held, balances and transactions can now be shared with other services to get a more comprehensive picture of one’s personal finances.

Binance.US and Gemini are two of the most recognizable cryptocurrency platforms on the market and rank near the top of U.S. exchange volumes. Discount brokerage Robinhood began integrating crypto trading in early 2021 during the height of the bull market. SoFi, a California-based fintech firm, first launched zero-fee trading for Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH) and Litecoin (LTC) in 2019.

Plaid currently has over 12,000 financial institutions in its network. An estimated 98 million people in the United States used Plaid’s services between 2013 and 2021. The company currently has a valuation of $13.4 billion.

In 2020, Plaid became a major acquisition target for Visa and was offered $5.3 billion in a buyout. Although the firms agreed on a merger, Visa later abandoned the acquisition amid pressures from the Department of Justice (DOJ). At the time, the DOJ’s antitrust division alleged that Visa’s acquisition plans represented an “anticompetitive merger.”

Chamath Palihapitiya sells 15% of his stake in SOFI

November 19, 2021 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

Bitcoin billionaire Palihapitiya will use earnings from the sale to fund other “future-shaping technologies” for his venture firm.

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 recently made to continue our work: pic.twitter.com/Z4yA7sS3N6
— Chamath Palihapitiya (@chamath) November 18, 2021

In his announcement, he stated “Equity markets, crypto markets, art valuations, SaaS multiples — almost everything seems to be at all-time highs,” as he went on to explain some of the moves his investment firm Social Capital has made.

Palihapitiya said that he sold 15% of his shares of SoFi “to fund other investments in technologies that will shape our future,” mentioning California-based battery materials innovator Mitra Chem.

SoFi share prices fell nearly 2% following the announcement.

SoFi is a modern finance platform that consists of five sections: capital lending, investment management, business development and consulting, career development, and personal finance education.

Palihapitiya also noted that he intends to increase Social Capital’s investment in medicare provider Clover Health, but he did not state by how much.

Social Capital’s portfolio consists of 74 companies and Palihapitiya himself enjoys a net worth of about $1.1 billion, technically making him a Bitcoin billionaire as he has long seen Bitcoin as a sound investment.

More recently, Palihapitiya has begun to back projects on other platforms like Solana.

Blockchain-based fintech firm Figure raises $200M

May 21, 2021 Coin Telegraph

Blockchain-based fintech firm Figure raises 0M

Coin Telegraph

Figure Technologies brings its valuation to $3.2 billion with a new round of funding.

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 a national bank charter from the United States Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.

In conjunction with the latest funding round, Figure is expanding its board of directors with executives from lead investors including Morgan Creek general partner Sachin Jaitly and 10T co-founder Stan Mironshik. “Figure is building next-generation lending, trading, and settlement infrastructure for the Digital Asset Ecosystem,” 10T general partner Dan Tapiero said.

Founded in 2018, Figure is a venture-backed private blockchain holding company developing products for lending, asset management, banking and payments, all of which are based on the Provenance blockchain. Figure co-founder Cagney is also the founder of American online personal finance company SoFi.

The news comes shortly after Figure rolled out a new public, open-source, decentralized, proof-of-stake blockchain on Wednesday. The new decentralized Provenance replaces the prior permissioned Provenance blockchain launched in 2018.

Sofi