SoFi’s crypto relaunch brought in $121.6 million in Q1. Almost all of it went to costs

Nationally chartered U.S. bank SoFi’s relaunched crypto business generated $121.6 million in crypto transaction revenue in the first quarter, its first granular disclosure of the unit’s economics since the bank returned to the cryptocurrency space late last year.

That revenue was almost entirely offset by $120.7 million in related transaction costs, leaving just $852,000 in net crypto transaction revenue, according to the company’s latest quarterly filing.

The company reported earnings of $0.12 per share on a GAAP basis, or about $0.13 on an adjusted basis, up from $0.06 a year earlier.

SoFi said it records crypto transactions on a gross basis because it acts as principal, buying crypto from or selling it to third-party liquidity providers before transferring it to or from customer accounts. The structure appears similar to a brokerage model, where the platform intermediates trades rather than taking directional risk.

The company reported "239,509 crypto accounts" as of March 31, a metric that captures the total number of accounts opened through its platform, rather than active traders.

The figures give the first public read on SoFi’s crypto business since its in-app trading launch in November.

SoFi had outlined its return to crypto in June, with plans for crypto investing and blockchain-based remittances..

SoFi said that the GENIUS Act would require it to migrate SoFiUSD to a “separately licensed or regulated entity.” SoFi launched SoFiUSD in December as a stablecoin for enterprise payments.

The company said in the filing that it began minting SoFiUSD in the first quarter and entered a partnership with Mastercard to support future settlement capabilities across the card network.

SoFi said its own crypto holdings remain immaterial and are held as incidental inventory for operations, not as long-term investments.