Cryptocurrencies

SoFi Debuts Auto Crypto Purchase Option for Direct Deposit Customers

Despite some turbulent times, cryptocurrencies remain a popular topic and investment. In turn, the FinTech leader SoFi has announced a new feature that will allow customers to automatically invest in crypto when they receive direct deposit funds.

With the new feature, SoFi Invest customers who also use the recently-launched SoFi Checking & Savings will be able to select a portion of each paycheck to be used to purchase crypto assets. What’s more, these automatic purchases will be fee-free. At this time, the feature is available for any of the 30 coins that SoFi supports.

Currently, while customers are able to set up auto-purchase for several different assets, they can only add one coin at a time and repeat the process for subsequent choices. If choosing a dollar amount to auto-buy, customers must select an amount between $50 and $5,000. However, there doesn’t appear to be a minimum if using the percentage option. Meanwhile, users requesting to auto-purchase crypto with 25% or more of their direct deposits will trigger a warning reminding them about the volatility of cryptocurrencies and suggesting they consider the impact a major price decline might have on their finances. In either case, once crypto auto-purchases are set up, they’ll display in the Scheduled Transactions section of SoFi Crypto, allowing users to delete them from there.

Commenting on the auto-buy option, SoFi CEO Anthony Noto said in a statement, “Crypto investing is rising rapidly. In the last year alone, SoFi doubled the number of investors setting up automatic, recurring crypto purchases.” Noto went on to say, “By adding the ability for members to automate crypto purchases right from their paycheck, we’re making it easier than ever for our members to customize how they manage their spending, saving, and investing all in one place to help them get their money right.”

The new SoFi feature happens to arrive right after Robinhood announced its new debit card product called Robinhood Cash Card, which will replace the app’s existing Cash Management option. Among the features announced for the incoming offering is the ability for customers to divert a portion of their direct deposits toward investments, including crypto. The Cash Card will also enable users to round up their purchases to the nearest dollar and invest the change in a selected asset, earning Robinhood Money bonuses of between 10% and 100% of their rounded-up funds on a weekly basis (capped at $10). A waitlist for the Robinhood Cash Card is now open, with the account expected to begin rolling out to current Cash Management customers this week.

Although SoFi certainly isn’t the first to offer a crypto auto-purchase option in this vein, the growing trend shows that there’s still tremendous interest in the space despite some price dips and continued scrutiny. On that note, while SoFi does warn users about diverting too much of their paychecks toward crypto investments, it’s not hard to imagine a scenario where regulators might have questions about why the platform seemingly allows for a 100% auto-invest option. Those issues aside, the continued growth of SoFi’s crypto platform is encouraging, with many others sure to follow.

Also published on Medium.

Other Articles by Jonathan Dyer