SoFi CEO drops a bombshell after blowout earnings | Official Website of Louis Velazquez, entrepreneur, finance guy and tech innovator

SoFi’s Q4 2025 earnings is not simply “a record quarter.” At a very important earnings call, management played offense, telling investors to avoid lumping it with rate-sensitive fintech lenders.

CEO Anthony Noto set the tone early in the call:

But Noto was more optimistic regarding the future. He wants the market to incorporate a unique situation into its future projections. A fintech is evolving into more than a money lender, moving into fees, distribution, and infrastructure.

Additionally, the punchline should not be overlooked. “Total fee-based revenue… was a quarterly record at $443 million.” He described it as “deliberate diversification towards more capital-light revenue streams.”

SoFi’s Q4 earnings were strong but here’s what could trip up SOFI stock

Photo by Bloomberg on Getty Images

SoFi Q4 2025 highlights investors should pin to the board

A few numbers do most of the work in the “platform, not lender” argument:

Adjusted net revenue:Around $1.013B (first billion-dollar quarter)
Adjusted EBITDA: Roughly $318M (31% margin)
Fee-based revenue:$443M (up 50%+ YoY)
LPB originations:$3.7B
Total originations:$10.5B
Deposits:$37.5B (+$4.6B QoQ)
Members:13.7M (+35% YoY)
Products:20M+ (+37% YoY)

CFO Chris Lapointe said it best, stating how things are evolving with respect to the fintech: “An important driver… was the increased contribution from capital light, non-lending, and fee-based revenue sources.”

Fee-based revenue is a mix shift that changes the conversation

When it comes to SoFi, there is a default risk that we have to deal with. Credit rates can become concerning due to the current state of the US economy. However, when that happens, SoFi stock gets treated like a lender.

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What is the workaround for SoFi? Well, for management it is simple: the scaling of fees. At a certain point, they will be impossible to ignore. Noto said fee-based revenue is at “nearly $1.8 billion” annualized, jumping from “less than $1.2 billion” a year ago. This increase further suggested that the change was intentional.

So, fees aren’t just a “nice” side distraction. As time goes forward, they are becoming core engines.

Where the fee growth is coming from (the short list):

Loan Platform Business economics (originate + distribute for partners)
Interchange and card spend
Brokerage and referral fees

Loan Platform Business is the capital-light engine doing the heavy lifting

When it comes to the re-rating pitch, the LPB is the one segment that rerates it all, and Lapointe is not coy about it.

He called it “one of our greatest achievements in 2025” and said flat-out, “We’ve built this business into a powerhouse.” He also laid out the scale: “$194 million in adjusted net revenue… an annualized pace of $775 million.”

Noto’s version is more direct, and it’s the following quote that captures the bull case:

For me, that is the wrinkle people need to keep in mind. SoFi will retain loans when in need of yields or distribute them when there is a need for speed and lower risk.

LPB changes the model for the following reasons:

It lets SoFi grow originations without growing the balance sheet at the same rate
It makes “lending volume” into fee revenue that can be repeated.
It gives management a real tool to use when the capital markets change.

Deposits and funding is the “stickiness” point they keep hammering

SoFi’s deposit story is far more complicated than “deposits are up.” SoFi is making an interesting argument here. According to the fintech, it has a better financial foundation than many of its competitors.

Noto said, “The bulk of our deposits… almost… 97% are direct deposit customers.” He also called those “high-quality primary account relationships.”

Lapointe then offered the statistic that analysts usually salivate over: “Since we launched the bank, we’ve been at roughly a 60%–70% beta.”

That’s important because if deposit costs act the way management claims they do, SoFi can keep its financing edge even when rates change, backing the broader, larger “platform” argument instead of going back to “lender-only” calculations.

SoFiUSD and SoFi Pay are pitching infrastructure, not a trading gimmick

I am not the kind of investor/observer that reads too much into crypto. Blockchain is groundbreaking but I feel companies such as SoFi can often overstate their impact, particularly when it comes to company press releases.

Although “crypto” is a loaded word, it’s important to note Noto frames the stablecoin launch as a “meaningful step forward.”

“SoFi USD will be a game changer for our business, as it enables us to be an infrastructure provider for banks, fintechs, and enterprise platforms.”

He also aimed to decrease the perceived risk by giving investors a simple statement worth repeating:

“For every SoFi USD outstanding, we will have a dollar of cash in our Fed master account… no credit, liquidity, or duration risk.”

And he linked it directly to product rollout: “This year, we will leverage SoFi USD to power SoFi Pay.”

That’s how a fintech communicates when it has larger ambitions than making money off of trading spreads, regardless of your belief in the idea. That’s “we want to own the rails.”

Tech Platform: steady revenue, messy optics

For me, the tech platform scene is hard to read. Why? Well, because a large client transition can muddy the headline metrics.

Still, Lapointe highlighted Q4 tech platform revenue of $122M (+19% YoY). And Noto clarified the setup going forward: “Our outlook assumes no revenue in 2026 from that large customer.”

The fascinating part was the demand. Noto noted that platform partners used to have “really nonexistent” interest in “stablecoins, wallets,” and associated infrastructure, but that interest has recently grown “quite meaningfully.” That’s not a result yet, but it’s the type of pipeline commentary the firm wants investors to pay attention to in 2026.

Management is pre-empting the scary narrative

Even when the underlying book is solid, SoFi understands that the market punishes lenders on credit optics.

Lapointe addressed it head-on: “the increase… is driven by mix rather than credit deterioration.”

He said that LPB activity meant that fewer new loans were kept, which increased the seasoning on what was already on the balance sheet. This can make charge-offs look worse even if the trend is stable.

Investors can disagree. But the company came in ready for the debate.

SoFi is swinging big for 2026

SoFi didn’t act like a fintech playing defensive.

Lapointe set goals that keep the “platform” story going:

Members: up at least 30% year over year
Adjusted net revenue:Roughly $4.655B (about 30% growth)
Adjusted EBITDA:Around $1.6B (about 34% margin)
Adjusted EPS:Approximately $0.60

He also put a stake in the ground beyond 2026: “compounded annual adjusted net revenue growth of at least 30% from 2025 to 2028.”

What could break the story

Here is a list of risks you cannot ignore:

LPB demand goes down as capital markets become tighter or spreads are bigger.
As rates go down, deposits become less “sticky” than management thought they would.
Stablecoin and product rollouts might be challenging for banks to follow the rules or get things done.
Credit goes from “mix/seasoning optics” to real damage.
There is a lot of talk about tech platforms, but not many completed partnerships.

The bottom line for SOFI stock

SoFi wants an evolution. The fintech leader wants to become more than a “fintech lender with a good app.” Instead, what SOFI wants to become is a “fee-heavy platform with a bank charter.” In the data and the way management communicates about the firm, the pitch is now brought to life in Q4 2025.

If LPB continues growing and deposits keep acting the way they do, investors may have to cease seeing it as a lender.

However, there is downside risk as well. If the thesis breaks, SoFi will be back in the lender penalty box, and it won’t be pretty.