How SoFi Went From Fintech Darling To Wall Street Pariah

Key Points:

• Anthony Noto became CEO of SoFi in 2018, transforming it from a student loan startup into a diversified digital bank with 13.7 million customers and $3.6 billion in revenue by 2025, growing its valuation to nearly $40 billion.
• Despite impressive growth, SoFi’s stock has dropped nearly 50% since late 2025 amid concerns over AI-driven job losses, private credit market turmoil, and skepticism about the company’s aggressive accounting practices.
• Short seller Muddy Waters accused SoFi of financial engineering and misleading accounting, particularly criticizing its low discount rates on personal loans and capitalization of marketing expenses, claims SoFi denies.
• SoFi uses fair-value accounting with unusually low discount rates to value loans, which boosts reported profits, but industry experts question whether these assumptions reflect market realities.
• While SoFi has expanded into technology services with acquisitions like Galileo and Technisys, this segment’s revenue growth is slowing, and a proposed $6 billion acquisition of fintech Column was abandoned amid SoFi’s stock decline.