Schlagwort: blockchain markets

• SoFi will enable instant cross-border transfers using Bitcoin and UMA.
• Transfers will convert USD to Bitcoin via Lightning, then to local currency.
• The service will first launch in Mexico with lower fees than traditional remittances.

SoFi Bank is preparing to shake up the global remittance industry by introducing a blockchain-powered international money transfer service.

The US digital bank has partnered with Lightspark, a Bitcoin infrastructure company founded by former PayPal president David Marcus, to bring faster and cheaper cross-border payments directly into its app.

SoFi steps into blockchain payments

The new service will allow SoFi customers to send money abroad without relying on traditional remittance providers or third-party platforms.

Instead, transfers will be powered by the Bitcoin Lightning Network and Lightspark’s Universal Money Address, or UMA.

SoFi + Lightspark = instant global payments. 🌍⚡

Send money abroad in seconds, right from the @sofi app, powered by UMA.

Coming soon for 🇺🇸→ 🇲🇽 with more countries to follow.

The future of global payments is here: https://t.co/MxAA5o9k2Z pic.twitter.com/GFVq4KhoxF

— Lightspark (@lightspark) August 19, 2025

This technology is designed to move dollars across borders instantly, at any time of the day, while ensuring that fees and exchange rates are displayed clearly before each transaction.

SoFi says the service will debut later this year, beginning with Mexico, a key remittance corridor from the United States.

Once rolled out, users will be able to initiate transfers directly through the SoFi app, where US dollars will be converted into Bitcoin, routed across the Lightning Network, and then converted back into the recipient’s local currency before being deposited in their bank account.

Notably, this is not SoFi’s first step into the digital asset space.

The bank began offering crypto trading in 2019, but later scaled back the service following regulatory concerns during the collapse of FTX.

However, with a federal banking license secured and new rules under the GENIUS Act offering greater clarity, SoFi is reentering the sector more aggressively.

During its most recent earnings call, the company outlined ambitions beyond remittances.

These include plans for stablecoin issuance, crypto-backed loans, and staking infrastructure for other institutions.

By positioning itself as a bridge between traditional banking and Web3, SoFi hopes to secure a long-term advantage over pure-play crypto platforms.

Faster and cheaper transfers

The promise of speed and lower costs is central to SoFi’s plan.

Traditional remittances often take days to clear and can cost families as much as 6% of the amount being sent.

By embedding blockchain rails into its platform, SoFi expects to deliver a service that is available around the clock and significantly below the national average cost of remittances in the United States.

Anthony Noto, SoFi’s chief executive, emphasised that many of the bank’s members rely on sending money to loved ones overseas.

He said that building blockchain transfers directly into the SoFi app will give users “faster, smarter, and more inclusive access” to their funds.

The bank is also opening a waitlist to meet early demand and gauge interest from members who frequently send money abroad.

Lightspark provides the backbone

Lightspark, which launched in 2022, has been positioning its UMA as a universal standard for moving money globally in a way that feels as simple as sending an email.

According to Marcus, Bitcoin is the only open payments network that can power such transactions securely and at scale.

Marcus added that UMA on SoFi will allow members to move dollars instantly with full transparency and control, while avoiding the delays of traditional systems.

The collaboration makes SoFi the first US bank to integrate Bitcoin’s Lightning Network and UMA at this scale.

It also comes at a time when other major institutions, including Bank of America and JPMorgan, are testing blockchain for their own transfer systems.

The post SoFi Bank to start using Bitcoin for cross-border payments appeared first on CoinJournal.

• Bitcoin and Ether prices are falling despite positive industry news.
• A key disconnect exists between weak price action and strong fundamentals.
• Glassnode warns of market fragility and stretched leverage in the short term.

A profound and unsettling disconnect is cleaving the cryptocurrency market in two as the trading day begins in Asia.

While a torrent of structurally bullish headlines points to a maturing and increasingly powerful industry, the price action on screen tells a story of weakness, fear, and retreat.

This growing chasm between the long-term promise and the short-term pain has left investors caught in a tense tug-of-war.

The immediate picture is painted in red. Bitcoin is down 3% in the past 24 hours, struggling to hold the line at $113,000.

Ether is suffering even more, having shed 5.6% to land at $4,100, extending a week of bruising losses across the major digital assets. This persistent pullback is happening in the face of news that would, in any other environment, be sending prices soaring.

The view from the charts: a structure of sand?

For one camp of market observers, the current weakness is a simple function of a fragile and overextended market structure.

In a recent report, the analytics firm Glassnode frames the decline as a textbook case of exhaustion: spot momentum is fading, leverage is dangerously stretched, and the pressure from profit-taking is building to a critical point.

They warn that even the massive $900 million in inflows into U.S.-listed spot ETFs last week is not enough to sustain the rally on its own.

Without a renewed wave of conviction buying in the spot markets, Glassnode argues, the market’s positioning remains acutely “vulnerable to deeper deleveraging.”

A foundation of steel

This pessimistic view, however, is far from universal. Another camp argues that fixating on the short-term price action is a classic case of missing the forest for the trees.

The Singapore-based market maker Enflux, in a note shared with CoinDesk, contends that the industry is maturing at a pace that the charts are simply failing to capture.

They see the weak price action as a temporary “disconnect” and urge traders to focus on the truly significant headlines: Google becoming the largest shareholder in miner TeraWulf, Wyoming launching a state-backed stablecoin, and Tether hiring a former White House crypto policy official. 

These are not fleeting signals, Enflux argues; they are proof that serious capital and top-tier talent are aligning around a future that is institutional, regulated, and built to last.

The divergence in tone is telling. One side sees a house of cards, the other sees the scaffolding of a skyscraper being erected.

The shadow of the Fed

This internal conflict is being amplified by a powerful external force: the Federal Reserve.

The entire market is holding its breath ahead of the Fed’s FOMC minutes and, more importantly, Chairman Jerome Powell’s pivotal speech at the Jackson Hole symposium later this week.

With economists from institutions like Bank of America warning that Powell may argue for holding rates steady amid sticky inflation, the easy-money hopes that have buoyed risk assets are beginning to fade.

This macro uncertainty is forcing a reckoning in the crypto market, where the short-term fragility is clashing head-on with the long-term fundamental strength. The question now is which narrative will break first.

The post Crypto update: Bitcoin slips as analysts warn of ‘fragile’ market structure appeared first on CoinJournal.