SoFi Rises 3% as the Stablecoin Trade Pulls Fintech Into the Crypto Bid, Coinbase Climbs 5%

David Moadel

Tue, August 25, 2026 at 9:27 PM GMT+3 4 min read

Quick Read

SoFi and Coinbase surged 3% and 5% as stablecoin sector rotation drove crypto-linked fintechs, with Coinbase's USDC hitting a record $20B.
AFRM's flat 1% gain versus ARKF's 2% rally confirms today's bid flows through stablecoin rails, not broad fintech tailwinds.
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The stablecoin trade is spilling out of pure-crypto names and into fintech on Tuesday, with the SoFiUSD link putting SoFi Technologies (NASDAQ:SOFI) squarely in the same bid that's lifting exchanges. This move looks like sector rotation, not a company-specific catalyst.

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The ARK Blockchain & Fintech Innovation ETF (CBOE:ARKF) is up 2% to $46.44 midday Tuesday, outpacing the Invesco QQQ Trust (NASDAQ:QQQ), which is up 0.42% to $709.32. That gap is an indication that this is a crypto-linked fintech move rather than a broad tech rally.

SoFi Technologies stock is up 3% to $18.83 on the session. Meanwhile, Coinbase Global (NASDAQ:COIN) shares are climbing 5% to $188.11, moving harder on the same trade as the crypto-native exchange with the most direct stablecoin exposure.

SOFI Price Target — 24/7 Wall St.

Stablecoin Trade Reaches Fintech Rails

The Tuesday bid ties back to SoFi Technologies now carrying a stablecoin, which is why the shares are trading in sympathy with the crypto complex. SoFi began settling its trading business in SoFiUSD during Q2 2026, and SoFiUSD is backed by cash at the Federal Reserve.

SoFi describes SoFiUSD as the first stablecoin issued by a nationally chartered bank on a public, permissionless blockchain, with roughly $300 million in circulation at the end of Q2 2026. Coinbase Global competes through USDC, and average USDC held in Coinbase products reached a record $20 billion in Q2 2026. That's the plumbing this rotation is chasing.

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COIN Price Target — 24/7 Wall St.

Where the Fintech Peers Diverge

The differentiation shows up in Affirm Holdings (NASDAQ:AFRM), the BNPL fintech with no crypto rail. Affirm Holdings stock is barely moving, up 0.6% to $77.36, despite trading in the same fintech neighborhood as SoFi Technologies. That's the cleanest evidence today's bid is running through stablecoins, not fintech broadly.

Also participating are Robinhood Markets (NASDAQ:HOOD), which carries direct crypto exposure, and PayPal Holdings (NASDAQ:PYPL), which operates PYUSD and expanded PYUSD access to 70 markets in March. Both are getting pulled into the same rotation, though the intensity varies with how directly each business touches stablecoin economics.

Session Move Versus Year-to-Date Scorecard

The Tuesday bid arrives after painful drawdowns for both featured names. SoFi Technologies stock was down 30% year to date through Monday's close, and Coinbase Global stock was down 21% year to date through Monday's close. Today's pop is a bounce off deep discounts, not a fresh breakout.

The shares trade at a forward P/E ratio of 25x against the industry's 17x, so they still carry a growth-name premium. The company's Q2 2026 fee-based revenues reached $472 million, or 39% of adjusted net revenues, up 22% from the prior quarter. The company's Financial Services and Technology Platform revenues together were about $551 million, or 46% of adjusted net revenues, giving the market a non-lending story to underwrite the stablecoin optionality.

What to Watch Now

Traders may want to keep an eye on whether SoFi Technologies stock holds above $18 into Tuesday's close, since a fade would signal the crypto-fintech link is still episodic rather than structural. Coinbase Global stock has moved with USDC balances and Base activity all summer, so follow-through in stablecoin flow data over the next few sessions matters more than today's tape.

Investors sizing their exposure here should treat SoFi Technologies and Coinbase Global as high-beta, crypto-correlated positions in their portfolios. A satellite allocation, rather than a core one, matches the volatility profile of both names, and we wrote a free playbook on fencing off that kind of speculation with just 5% of a portfolio here. The next scheduled catalyst is the Q3 2026 earnings cycle in late October, when SoFi Technologies and Coinbase Global will update stablecoin metrics.