Online Loan Platform SoFi Will Offer Crypto Trading Through Coinbase

SoFi, a millennial-focused online lending platform, will allow its customers to buy cryptocurrency through a partnership with Coinbase starting in the second quarter, CNBC reported Tuesday.

"Our target audience wants to see what the price of cryptocurrency is, and to buy it," SoFi CEO Anthony Noto was quoted as saying in the CNBC report. "They have a desire to do that and in many cases they already are."

SoFi did not specify which cryptocurrencies would be available for purchase when the service launches, according to CNBC.

In addition to enabling such purchases, the partnership will let SoFi customers track the prices for various cryptocurrencies, similar to an arrangement Coinbase has for retail customers of Fidelity Investments, though the latter tie-up does not allow crypto trading. (Fidelity separately plans to launch trading of digital assets for institutional clients through its own platform this year.)

SoFi was founded in 2011 with a goal of making college more affordable to students with consolidation loans provided by alumni, according to The New York Times. In that sense, it has roots in peer-to-peer finance. The company later branched out into mortgages and investment products.

Coinbase and SoFi both declined to comment.

Business miniatures image via Shutterstock