In the latest episode of As the Financial World Spirals, SoFi—the fintech outfit you vaguely remember signing up for during a bored afternoon on your phone—has decided to let people play with cryptocurrencies again. Why? Well, apparently, America got a new president, Donald Trump is back in town, and the regulatory mood has shifted from “no, no, please don’t touch that” to a breezy “well, why not, what’s the worst that could happen?”
SoFi’s CEO, Anthony Noto, spoke to CNBC—probably while checking his phone for Bitcoin prices—and announced that crypto is making a comeback at SoFi. The company had previously been forced to slam the brakes on all things crypto last year. This, of course, caused many would-be investors to emit a collective sigh of regret and scroll wistfully through Dogecoin memes.
“We’re going to re-enter the crypto business, which we had to exit,” Noto declared, as if returning from a brief but spiritually enlightening sabbatical. “We’ll re-enter the business of allowing our members to invest in cryptocurrency. We want to actually make a bigger, more comprehensive push into cryptocurrency [this time], to include really providing crypto or blockchain capabilities in each product area that we have.”
If there’s anything more reassuring than a CEO saying “comprehensive push,” I haven’t heard of it.
Meanwhile, elsewhere in the marble corridors of the Federal Reserve, decisions were being made. Four previous statements and letters about how banks should avoid anything that sounds remotely techy and fun have been officially withdrawn.
“The Federal Reserve Board on Thursday announced the withdrawal of guidance for banks related to their crypto-asset and dollar token activities and related changes to its expectations for these activities,”
the statement droned, no doubt while someone tried to look busy in the background.
“These actions ensure the Board’s expectations remain aligned with evolving risks and further support innovation in the banking system.”
Translation: “Frankly, we have no idea what’s going to happen, but let’s see if Bitcoin can buy us a sandwich next year.”
From now on, the Reserve Board plans to watch the crypto space with all the intensity of a sleepy cat—“under a normal supervisory process,” whatever that means.
This regulatory flexibility is, of course, the love child of recent political change: with Trump’s return, regulators are exuding an air of laissez-faire optimism not seen since people thought Beanie Babies were a solid retirement plan. So, buckle up, crypto fans. The wild ride is about to resume. 🚀💸
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2025-04-29 23:09