Robinhood Markets (NASDAQ: HOOD) and SoFi (NASDAQ: SOFI), along with Public, are offering 3% match incentives on ACATS transfers of portfolios from Webull (NASDAQ: BULL) users, with deadlines falling around mid-October 2026 and multi-year holding requirements of roughly five years to avoid clawbacks.
These promotions come as Webull faces significant challenges stemming from a bipartisan US House Select Committee on China report released on October 7, 2026, titled Free Trades, Hidden Ties: Exposing Webull’s China Links.
The report identified a profound gap between Webull’s marketing as an American company headquartered in St. Petersburg, Florida, and its actual structure, which the committee described as tied in structural ways to the People’s Republic of China through ownership, technical workforce, technology infrastructure, cross-border data routing, corporate financing, and compliance frameworks.
Concerns centered on potential exposure of U.S. investor data to Chinese legal and surveillance risks, governance dominated by PRC-linked control including founder and CEO Anquan Wang, misrepresentations about employee locations, acceptance of Chinese government funding by a subsidiary, and heightened risks after the firm began holding customer cash directly.
Webull’s shares dropped about 19% following the report, and the company disputed the findings as inaccurate while stating that U.S. customer data is stored domestically.
A class-action lawsuit was subsequently filed alleging the firm misled investors about the scale of its China operations.
Meanwhile, Robinhood Markets this past month had focused sharply on digital assets, expanding offerings such as crypto perpetual futures plans, tokenized assets, its Layer-2 blockchain, and adding Bitcoin to its corporate balance sheet, while also running crypto deposit promotions including a 3% cash bonus on eligible deposits earlier in the summer and a reported YMMV higher-rate offer around 4.5% into September with extended hold periods.
SoFi has a new offer where they will pay $300 in its digital token SOFID, also known as SoFiUSD, for users transferring $1,000 or more in eligible crypto to the platform by mid-October 2026 and holding it for at least 12 months through October 2027, with the bonus paid in SOFID after the holding period ends.
These competitive moves highlight rivals positioning themselves as US-focused alternatives while capitalizing on Webull’s regulatory scrutiny and stock pressure, though all promotions carry specific terms, eligibility rules, fees, and tax considerations that users should verify directly.
The recent promotional activity and product expansions at Robinhood and SoFi reflect a broader pattern of convergence between traditional fintech platforms and crypto-native services that is reshaping options available to retail investors in the United States.
Brokerages and banking apps have increasingly incorporated spot crypto trading, staking, stablecoin transfers, and in some cases perpetual futures or tokenized representations of equities, while crypto platforms have added features such as cash management, IRA access, and seamless funding from bank accounts.
This integration reduces the need for users to maintain separate applications and accounts, allowing portfolio views, transfers, and tax reporting to occur within a single interface subject to the same know-your-customer and anti-money-laundering standards that apply to conventional brokerage and banking activity.
Regulatory developments in the United States have facilitated some of these offerings, including clearer pathways for bank-issued stablecoins and limited exemptions that permit certain tokenized stock products, though custody arrangements, leverage limits, and the distinction between brokerage and crypto entities continue to shape what retail users can access.
Platforms have responded by introducing bank-chartered stablecoins that can move between crypto and fiat balances, expanding lists of supported digital assets, and layering crypto deposit or transfer incentives onto existing account structures.
For US retail investors the result is a wider set of instruments—ranging from commission-free equity trading and retirement accounts to on-platform crypto exposure and yield products—delivered through interfaces designed for mobile use, yet the underlying assets remain subject to market volatility, differing insurance protections, and evolving rules on data security and cross-border ownership structures.