Money
in motion

Stablecoins are entering a new phase of adoption. More fiat-based companies are beginning to integrate stablecoins into their core products, and developers are expecting infrastructure that works reliably at global scale. As this shift accelerates, the requirements on the underlying technology become more demanding. Stablecoin platforms must provide reliable ways to move value between multiple fiat currencies and onchain environments, and they must support stablecoins that operate across several blockchains.

To meet these needs, Rain has acquired Fern and is welcoming their experienced team as the newest Rainmakers. 

A key piece of the acquisition is Fern’s multiplex, a routing, orchestration, and compliance engine that connects diverse liquidity sources, evaluates user permissions, and determines the optimal path for converting between assets across chains. It provides a foundation that will support Rain’s future on- and off-ramp integrations and will strengthen the way stablecoins move across blockchain ecosystems. 

This acquisition represents an investment in the long-term foundations of Rain’s platform. It also reflects our shared belief that stablecoins will become a primary medium for global commerce, provided the infrastructure behind them is reliable, compliant, and flexible enough to support the next generation of enterprise applications.

Why fiat connectivity matters

The first major requirement for enterprise adoption is the ability to move smoothly between fiat and stablecoins. Companies want the benefits of stablecoins, such as global reach and faster settlement, but their users and treasury operations still need fiat accounts, local payment rails, and predictable compliance flows.

Moving value from fiat into stablecoins requires a set of integrations that are consistent, safe, and adaptable across large markets. It also requires strong compliance tooling that can evaluate user permissions, track onboarding, and apply transaction-level rules.

Fern’s multiplex provides the foundational layer for this. Its architecture includes standardized interfaces, a routing engine that evaluates available liquidity, and a compliance engine that checks user permissions and transaction requirements. Together, these components form the pipes that will support Rain’s future on- and off-ramp integrations and allow us to build fiat connectivity in a more flexible and scalable way.

Why interoperability matters

As more value moves onchain, interoperability becomes equally important. Stablecoins today operate across several major networks, and enterprises increasingly need their assets to move between chains without added complexity or risk.

Interoperability is the layer that allows users and developers to treat stablecoins as a unified system rather than a collection of isolated networks. It improves liquidity, simplifies user experience, and gives developers the flexibility to incorporate the best tools available on each chain.

The multiplex helps enable this by providing a routing layer that can evaluate multiple conversion paths and select the most efficient one across different liquidity sources. This type of routing becomes essential as enterprises launch multi-chain programs and as users demand faster and more predictable movement of assets.

Strengthening interoperability is a core part of Rain’s vision for the onchain economy, and the multiplex gives us a strong foundation to build on.

Get to know the multiplex

The multiplex consists of four primary components:

1. APIs: A standardized set of endpoints that connect to various liquidity providers, bank partners, and blockchains.
2. Compliance Engine: A module that evaluates user permissions, onboarding status, and transaction-level requirements to ensure compliance before any action is taken.
3. Liquidity Pools: A connective layer of available, permissioned liquidity providers and bank partners that the multiplex can route through for customer transactions.
4. Router: A routing engine that evaluates available liquidity, compares conversion paths, and selects the optimal route for a given transaction.

This architecture gives Rain a modular system that can evolve to connect to new liquidity sources, new token standards, and new fiat partners.

The team bcehind Fern

Technology alone is not enough. Building and scaling infrastructure of this type requires a team with deep experience in distributed systems, cross-chain routing, security, and developer tooling.

Fern’s engineering team brings that experience to Rain. Their work at Fern demonstrates a commitment to reliability, technical rigor, and thoughtful design. The team includes senior backend and full-stack engineers who have spent years building complex systems in web3, payments, and infrastructure. Pooja Shah, who led both Filecoin and core product initiatives at Protocol Labs before founding Fern, joins Rain as Head of Product.

Their expertise will help accelerate Rain’s infrastructure roadmap and ensure that partners building on Rain benefit from stronger primitives over time.

A smooth transition for existing Fern customers

All existing services will continue without interruption for Fern customers during the integration period. Existing API keys will remain active, and the same engineering team will support customers as we collaborate on a careful transition plan to integrate Fern’s products and brand into Rain.

Customers will receive direct updates on timing, migration steps, and how the multiplex will be integrated into Rain’s platform. Our focus is on continuity and clarity as we merge the systems.

Looking ahead

Stablecoins have reached a turning point. Their global utility is becoming apparent to enterprises, developers, and users around the world. To support that growth, platforms like Rain need a strong, flexible foundation that connects fiat and onchain value and supports seamless movement across blockchain ecosystems.

The acquisition of Fern strengthens that foundation. It positions Rain to serve the next generation of stablecoin use cases with greater reliability, deeper infrastructure, and a broader vision for what money movement can become.

We are excited about what this means for the builders and partners working with Rain today. Most importantly, we are excited about what this enables in the years ahead.

If you are building a product that relies on fast, compliant, and globally capable stablecoin infrastructure, we would love to work with you.

Uptop—a card-linked rewards platform—is expanding beyond sports to offer rewards across retail, entertainment, travel, dining, and more.

Rain, the enterprise-grade infrastructure for stablecoin-powered payments, today announced it has acquired Uptop, an onchain rewards platform that turns everyday card purchases into loyalty for users, brands, and sponsors through simple card linking and receipt scanning.

The acquisition follows Rain’s recently secured $58 million Series B and accelerates the company’s commitment to delivering a complete, vertically integrated stack. This solution includes on-ramps, wallets, cards that work anywhere Visa is accepted, off-ramps and payouts, and now native rewards, so enterprises can launch and scale branded card and wallet programs with a single partner.

“We’re building end-to-end, stablecoin-native infrastructure so our clients don’t have to stitch it together,” said Farooq Malik, CEO & Co-founder of Rain. “By integrating rewards, Rain continues to lead the stablecoin industry as a comprehensive platform that lets partners go live and scale fast, all while keeping the consumer experience simple. With Rain and Uptop, any partner will be able to offer branded cards with built-in rewards, or launch a Starbucks-style wallet and rewards program that drives loyalty.”

Uptop is experienced in powering rewards programs for sports teams, including Cavs Rewards for the Cleveland Cavaliers, Pistons Rewards for the Detroit Pistons, and the program for LSU Athletics. In the Cavaliers program, sponsors have seen a 21% lift in spend from enrolled members and a 51% boost in Team Shop sales since launch. Beyond sports, Uptop also powers the Empire State Building’s Ambassador Program. Under Rain, Uptop will expand into additional categories including retail, entertainment, travel, dining, and more.

By bringing rewards in-house, Rain unlocks a core cardholder expectation for stablecoin-powered programs. In the near future, Rain-issued cards can be linked to the Uptop-powered rewards marketplace so cardholders earn automatically on everyday spend, and partners can sponsor bonus-earn moments to drive frequency and retention. Uptop’s onchain architecture runs on Avalanche, enabling low-latency, high-volume loyalty experiences while keeping the user experience familiar and simple.

“We built Uptop so linking a card is all it takes for people to feel closer to the brands and teams they love,” said John Timoney, Co-founder of Uptop. “As part of Rain, we can bring that simplicity to more cardholders globally, with onchain infrastructure that’s invisible to the user.”

“Our card-linked, affinity rewards have proven they drive measurable spend. The next phase is integrating at the issuing layer. Rain lets us do exactly that, at scale,” said Ross Basri, Co-founder of Uptop. “Alongside the impressive team at Rain, we can bring rewards to more partners and cardholders, faster.”

Uptop will continue to operate as an independent brand under Rain.

About Rain: Rain is the global stablecoin infrastructure platform for enterprises, neobanks, platforms, and developers. Our technology allows partners to move, store, and use stablecoins instantly and compliantly through global payment cards, on/off-ramps, wallets, and cross-border rails. As a Visa Principal Member, Rain issues cards that work anywhere Visa is accepted, powering millions of purchases in over 150 countries. Built natively for stablecoins and trusted by more than 100 organizations worldwide, Rain delivers secure, scalable infrastructure that makes money move freely and instantly around the world. Learn more at https://www.rain.xyz/.

About Uptop: Uptop, a Rain company, is an onchain rewards platform that turns everyday purchases into loyalty across categories including sports, entertainment, travel, dining, and retail. With a simple card-link or receipt-scan, Uptop lets customers earn automatically where they already shop and redeem for perks that matter. Partners and sponsors benefit from measurable outcomes like frequency, basket size, and retention. Backed by Rain, Uptop brings integrated rewards to card and wallet programs at scale. Learn more at https://www.uptop.xyz/.‍

Read original press release here: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/rain-acquires-uptop-to-integrate-rewards-into-its-full-stack-platform-for-enterprise-card-and-wallet-programs-302611969.html

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At Rain, our mission has always been clear: make onchain payments as seamless and rewarding as the best financial products in the world.

When we raised our Series B earlier this year, we committed to building a one-stop platform for enterprises to launch and scale card and payment programs, including on-ramps, wallets, universally-accepted cards, off-ramps, and payouts.

Today, we’re adding the missing piece. Rain has acquired Uptop, a rewards platform that turns everyday purchases into loyalty through simple card-linking and receipt scanning. With Uptop, Rain partners will be able to launch programs that don’t just move money — they build loyalty, drive frequency, and deepen long-term value.

Rewards are the emotional layer of payments — what makes a card worth pulling out of your wallet. And now, they’re native to Rain.

Why rewards matter more than ever

In developed card markets, rewards are expected. In the U.S., for example, nearly every card offers something back, ranging from points and perks, to cash and crypto. If you’re not offering rewards, you’re not in the game.

Rain now helps partners compete at that level from day one by enabling automatic rewards globally.

That’s a big deal. Especially as stablecoin cards expand into regions where card access is still new and rewards are almost unheard of. In these markets, Rain partners will be able to offer a level of financial empowerment that feels truly differentiated: not just global access to funds, but the ability to earn on everyday spend.

Uptop has already proven that this model works. In the Cleveland Cavaliers’ Cavs Rewards program, for example, fans who linked their cards spent 21% more with team sponsors and Team Shop sales jumped by 51%. That same technology now powers Pistons Rewards, Geaux Rewards at LSU, and the Empire State Building Ambassador Program.

When people are rewarded for their everyday behavior, they engage more. Once Uptop’s platform is fully integrated into Rain’s stack, our partners will be able to tap into that same dynamic right out of the box.

Why Uptop

From the first conversation, our teams knew the fit was obvious. Uptop had built something rare: an onchain platform that felt completely off-chain to users. Cardholders link a card once, and rewards just happen. No downloads, no checkout codes, no POS integrations. Behind the scenes, the system runs on Avalanche, handling rewards with pinpoint attribution and loyalty-scale throughput.

That blend of consumer-grade UX and enterprise-grade infrastructure mirrors how Rain was built.

This isn’t a bolt-on. Uptop is a native extension of how Rain thinks about payments. Together, we’re making it possible to design card programs that drive revenue and retention, not just transactions.

What partners will be able to do

In the coming months, Rain partners will be able to:

• Launch branded rewards without managing third-party integrations or loyalty vendors
• Build “wallet-in-a-box” programs that combine branded balances, payments, and loyalty in one clean user flow, much like Starbucks’ iconic stored-value model
• Run sponsored bonus-earn campaigns that drive measurable engagement and spend
• Access detailed data on user activation, transaction frequency, and merchant mix

This creates something powerful: a single platform for going to market fast, with compliant issuance, stablecoin infrastructure, and rewards.

Uptop will continue operating as its own brand for the foreseeable future, with its reach expanding beyond sports and entertainment into retail, travel, and dining. But the user experience will remain the same: link a card, spend where you already shop, and earn automatically.

Looking ahead

Rain has always been about unlocking the full potential of stablecoins — making them spendable, scalable, and actually useful in the real world.

This acquisition marks another leap forward in that mission. It adds depth to the Rain stack, value to every swipe, and a new layer of engagement for our partners and their customers.

For cardholders, it means loyalty that’s effortless and global. For partners, it means launching programs that work harder and scale faster.

We’re thrilled to welcome the Uptop team into the Rain family, and we can’t wait to see what you, our partners, build with rewards at your fingertips.

If you’re building a card or wallet product and want rewards to be a native part of your user experience, we’d love to talk.

When you launch a card program with Rain, you're building on top of a high-performance, high-security platform. Our onchain smart contracts are what hold value, enforce the rules, and keep your program running smoothly. They’re foundational to how Rain works—highly secure, performance-tested, and built to earn trust.

We don’t just build these smart contracts. We subject them to independent security reviews, partner with best-in-class auditors like Sherlock. Sherlock is the lifecycle security partner for Web3 protocols. From development through launch to live operations, they combine AI-powered analysis, collaborative auditing, bug bounties, and financial coverage to catch vulnerabilities before they become exploits.

If you’re new to smart contracts, here’s a simple way to picture them: they’re tamper-resistant vaults with built-in instructions. They can receive, store, and send value based on clearly defined rules without any middlemen, which is why security is of the utmost importance.

We audit (and re-audit) every chain

Rain supports multiple blockchains, each with its own architecture and risk profile. That’s why we run a fresh audit every time we add support for a new chain, and continue auditing regularly to maintain security and trust.

Why? Because code doesn’t sit still. Dependencies evolve, networks upgrade, and attackers don’t take time off. Continuous assurance is the only real assurance.

Before any smart contract is available for our customers to use, we freeze the code and bring in independent auditors to review it. That includes Sherlock, one of our trusted security partners.

Sherlock doesn’t recruit auditors in a traditional sense—their network of experts grows through measured performance, not applications. Every researcher must first start by competing in open audit contests, where all submissions are tracked, judged, and scored for accuracy, false positives, and severity alignment.

Over time, this data builds a transparent performance profile for each researcher. The top performers—those consistently demonstrating precision, impact, and strong judgment—are invited into the collaborative audit pool, where they work in smaller teams led by senior auditors.

What a Rain + Sherlock audit actually looks like

Here’s how it works:

1. We build the contracts. Rain’s protocol engineers design and implement smart contracts tailored to the chain in question.
2. We engage independent auditors. We bring in firms, like Sherlock, and hire multiple auditors to ensure no single point of view dominates.
3. They go deep. Over a week or two, these expert auditors explore the codebase, simulate threats, and look for logic errors or vulnerabilities.
4. We patch and retest. Based on their findings, we fix what needs fixing, and then have the auditors confirm that the issues are resolved.
5. We publish the results. Once everything’s clean, the firm issues a final report and certification. We share a plain-English summary with our customers, and provide the full report under NDA.

Critical issues (like potential fund loss or broken permissions) are rare, but if they’re found, they’re fixed fast. We also treat lower-severity findings as opportunities to improve clarity, efficiency, and maintainability.

We also regularly schedule additional audits when new features are launched or environments change, and our smart contract infrastructure gets thoroughly vetted for every new blockchain we deploy to. Where a bug bounty is appropriate, we work with Sherlock to define scope, rewards, and a responsible disclosure path.

Want proof? Let’s talk.

If you're evaluating a specific chain or use case, we can share the relevant certifications, audit histories, and a summary packet that walks through our approach. We’re also happy to connect you with an Engineering lead to answer questions or walk you through how upgrades and ongoing monitoring work.

At Rain, we sweat the hard stuff so your program can launch fast, scale cleanly, and operate with confidence.

Rain CEO and co-founder Farooq Malik joined Visa’s Head of Crypto, Cuy Sheffield, on StableMinded to talk shop about how stablecoins are transforming payments infrastructure and what that means for enterprises, fintechs, and global economies.

You can listen to the full episode here.

From Rain’s early bet on stablecoin-backed corporate cards to Visa’s bold move toward blockchain-based settlement, the conversation explored how these two companies are teaming up to modernize money movement on a global scale. Below are the top five takeaways from their conversation:

1. Stablecoins are quietly changing the game

While crypto headlines come and go, stablecoins are quietly doing the real work—enabling faster, more reliable financial flows across borders. For Rain’s customers, stablecoins are operational currency used for payroll, cloud services, and day-to-day purchases.

The world needs payment rails that operate at internet speed. And that’s exactly what Rain is building.

2. Rain + Visa = 24/7 settlement infrastructure

Rain became the first issuer to settle Visa transactions using stablecoins every day of the week. This unlocks near-instant liquidity, reduces working capital constraints, and eliminates legacy bottlenecks like wire cutoffs and bank holidays.

Cuy from Visa describes this as an evolution from a two-dimensional treasury system to a four-dimensional model, where the key variables include currency, format (fiat or stablecoin), delivery method (Fedwire or blockchain), and the blockchain network itself. Rain’s infrastructure makes this complexity invisible to the user while powering faster, always-on settlement.

3. Built stablecoin-first, with Visa at the core

Rain didn’t retrofit stablecoins into a legacy system—it was built from the ground up as a stablecoin-native platform. Every Rain customer settles in stablecoins, and Rain itself settles with Visa the same way.

This deep integration is what makes the Rain—Visa model unique. Rain can adapt quickly to support new tokens and chains while aligning with Visa’s rigorous requirements for security, scale, and compliance. The result is a globally connected payments stack that works out of the box for new markets and use cases.

4. Turning “dollar cards” into daily spend

Thanks to this partnership, stablecoin-powered cards are becoming everyday financial tools, especially in emerging markets. Users call them “dollar cards” and use them for everything from groceries to business expenses, with no need to understand the tech behind it.

Rain is also partnered with merchant acquirers, like Nuvei, to support merchant payouts in stablecoins across LATAM. These merchants receive a Rain-powered wallet with a built-in Visa card, so they can spend against those stablecoin balances instantly, without ever having to off-ramp to fiat. This means money flows from consumer to merchant and back again, all within the Visa network and powered by stablecoin settlement.

5. Expanding access to the modern financial stack

Visa’s priority now is scaling this model across more markets. Rain’s role is to make that expansion possible through flexible APIs, onchain infrastructure, and compliance-ready solutions.

This collaboration is a clear example of how legacy payment leaders and next-gen platforms can come together to redefine what’s possible. For users, that means faster payments, broader access, and fewer fees. For enterprises, neobanks, platforms, and developers, it means global reach without global rebuilds.

The service will connect stablecoins stored within Rain-powered wallets to local cash payouts via Western Union’s global retail footprint

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‍‍Rain, the enterprise-grade infrastructure for stablecoin-powered payments, today announced plans to participate in the new Western Union Digital Asset Network to bring everyday cash access to customers. This integration allows users to convert stablecoins held in Rain-powered wallets into local cash payouts at participating Western Union locations, unlocking real-world spending power.

Western Union recently announced the Digital Asset Network, which connects onchain assets with traditional money movement. To deliver full customer value, stablecoins must also be usable in everyday contexts, which is Rain’s unique area of expertise.

Rain’s ability to provide stablecoin wallets for their global customers makes them perfect for the Digital Asset Network. They will be able to offer users access to cash in many global markets through Western Union,” said Malcolm Clarke, Vice President of Global Ecosystem at Western Union. “With Rain, we’re partnering to deliver comprehensive solutions that connect traditional finance and the digital asset economy.”

Western Union operates one of the world’s leading cross-border, cross-currency money-movement and payments networks, reaching more than 150 countries and territories and operating in approximately 130 currencies. Pairing that distribution and trust with Rain’s modern payments infrastructure connects digital balances to familiar access points so customers can compliantly convert to cash from any Rain-enabled wallet.

All money is moving onchain, and Western Union’s stablecoin strategy underscores that shift. Rain is designed to make those dollars usable in the real world, which our integration with the Digital Asset Network will achieve,” said Farooq Malik, Chief Executive Officer of Rain. “Western Union is an impressive global institution, and their scale and ambition are moving the entire industry forward.”

Pairing Western Union’s global reach and retail footprint with Rain’s enterprise-grade infrastructure links onchain value to local retail locations customers already use. Details on supported geographies, eligibility, and launch timing will be announced as the program approaches availability.

‍About Rain: Rain is the global stablecoin infrastructure platform for enterprises, neobanks, platforms, and developers. Our technology allows partners to move, store, and use stablecoins instantly and compliantly through global payment cards, on/off-ramps, wallets, and cross-border rails. As a Visa Principal Member, Rain issues cards that work anywhere Visa is accepted, powering millions of purchases in over 150 countries. Built natively for stablecoins and trusted by more than 150 organizations worldwide, Rain delivers secure, scalable infrastructure that makes money move freely and instantly around the world.

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Read original press release here: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/rain-joins-western-unions-digital-asset-network-bringing-real-world-payment-utility-to-stablecoins-302603406.html?tc=eml_cleartime

NAKA is expanding its card program into Latin America, powered by Rain’s issuing muscle and network reach. After first launching a self-custodial, EMV-compatible card in 2023, NAKA is now diving into one of the most active digital payments markets in the world, where mobile-first habits, dollar-linked balances, and mainstream crypto adoption are already part of everyday life. Say hello to the new NAKA+ Visa Platinum Card, a self-custodial, virtual card accepted at over 150 million merchants globally.

Why this launch works

For platforms, wallets, and fintechs, the value is clear: NAKA provides the operating layer, Rain issues the cards, and your brand stays front and center. The result? A card product that’s ready to go global without added complexity.

Rain’s infrastructure handles everything from network integration to transaction clearing, KYC, and compliance workflows. That means no vendor sprawl, no regulatory guesswork, and no delayed launches. With a model built for stablecoins and an API that connects seamlessly, most partners go from integration to live program in weeks, not months.

Users can spend online or in store just like they do today, while keeping balances self-custodied and under their name. It’s a card experience that feels familiar to users and gives businesses a real way to scale.

Why Latin America

The region is one of the most dynamic environments for digital finance. People already save, spend, and send value via apps. Mobile usage is high, dollar-based savings are common, and traditional bank access remains uneven. That makes this the perfect place for practical solutions that turn digital value into real-world spending.

With NAKA’s model and Rain as the issuer, partners can launch branded cards inside their apps and let users spend funds at millions of Visa-accepting merchants around the world. It’s a faster, more flexible route to liquidity—without relying on legacy rails, cross-border headaches, or multiple intermediaries.

From Lugano to LATAM

NAKA announced its LATAM expansion at the Plan ₿ conference in Lugano. Now it’s go time. With Rain as the issuing engine and Visa acceptance built in, partners can launch with confidence and get cards into customers’ hands fast.

You can learn more about the new NAKA+ Visa Platinum Card here.

Rain’s CEO and co-founder, Farooq Malik, joined Peter Renton on the Fintech One-on-One podcast to discuss how onchain money is redefining global payments and what it means for the future of financial infrastructure.

You can listen to the full episode here.

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Farooq’s conversation unpacked how Rain is helping fintechs and enterprises move from electronic to onchain money — unlocking faster settlement, lower working capital needs, and truly global reach. Below are the top takeaways from the discussion:

1. It’s not crypto vs. fintech

The future of finance isn’t about some sort of crypto vs. fintech fight for dominance — onchain money is the next evolution of financial technology. Just as paper money gave way to electronic payments, onchain money marks the next era: the programmable age of finance. Stablecoins, tokenized deposits, and CBDCs all represent money that can move, reconcile, and settle instantly around the clock.

2. Rain is building the infrastructure for onchain money

Rain provides the infrastructure that lets fintechs and enterprises move and settle value onchain, without adding complexity. With one API, partners can issue cards, manage payroll, and process payments in multiple markets — all powered by stablecoin settlement rails.

3. Continuous settlement with Visa

Rain became the first company to settle Visa transactions using stablecoins seven days a week, including on weekends and holidays. This breakthrough reduces working capital requirements and makes near-instant liquidity a reality for fintechs and their customers.

4. One API for global scale

Fintechs no longer need to rebuild or relicense for every market. Rain’s infrastructure abstracts away local processing and compliance layers, enabling companies to go global faster with the same performance and reliability everywhere.

5. The next chapter of financial infrastructure

Farooq emphasizes that onchain money isn’t a replacement for fintech — it’s its next evolution. By upgrading the backend while preserving familiar user experiences, Rain is helping the world transition from digital to programmable money, seamlessly.

Farooq closed with a reminder that technology should make finance simpler, faster, and more open. Onchain infrastructure is how that vision becomes real.

The story of digital assets has typically been told loudly. Bitcoin arrived with libertarian bravado, promising to replace banks and undermine governments. Ethereum pitched itself as a world computer.

At every turn, crypto has been most comfortable when it could be seen.

Yet the most transformative chapter in digital payments may prove to be the quietest one: stablecoins.

Stablecoins are often framed as a new front-end payment method, but Farooq Malik, CEO and Co-Founder of Rain, noted during a conversation hosted by PYMNTS CEO Karen Webster that their core unlock is actually around merging money movement and reconciliation into a single digital packet.

It’s “the holy grail of money since the beginning of time,” Malik explained, not because settlement is hard, but because cleanly reconciling what moved, why, and for whom is the costly part.

“Transacting is simple sometimes,” he stressed, but ensuring it “flows into your financial statements,” is “audit ready,” and “GAAP compliant” is “enormously complicated.”

This is why the current wave of stablecoin innovation is less about launching consumer-facing apps and more about embedding stablecoins into existing networks.

Payment service providers can maintain the merchant experience while cutting costs in their own operations. Banks can use tokenized dollars to balance intraday liquidity. Multinationals can reduce friction in intercompany transfers.

It’s a bet that Rain recently raised a $58 million Series B to help build.

‘Same, but better’ strategy

Rather than pursue shiny new front-end experiences, Rain started by wiring stablecoin balances into what people already do: pay with cards. That decision meant wrestling with authorizations, settlements, reconciliation and chargebacks, all features that consumers take for granted and merchants rely upon.

“We realized in order for us to be in any credible number of conversations after the regulatory clarity came in, we would’ve needed to have started before any of this was becoming institutionally palpable,” explained Malik.

“We started with cards for two reasons. One was because you can pay for most things with a payment card. And the second thing was because card payments are enormously complex, and we wanted to correct the code on authorizing payments and settling payments for this enormously complex way of transacting.”

This approach also positioned Rain to serve both crypto-native companies and conventional programs like health spending accounts (HSAs/FSAs), commuter benefits, and wage access; tackling each by looking to reduce float and operate with 24/7 money.

Webster pressed on the consumer angle. Will stablecoins in commerce look like the halting transition to account-to-account payments, where shoppers resist losing card-like protections?

“That assumes a world where consumers are opting into stablecoins on their own,” Malik replied, noting that some will, and merchants like Stripe or Coinbase are building “natively accepted” stablecoin pathways. But Rain’s own thesis is to offer both paths without a forced choice: Let those who want a stablecoin-native experience have it, while upgrading the rest invisibly.

“Card networks by and large have actually figured out this … risk shift framework … chargeback modality … [and] adjudicate disputes,” Malik said. “All of our underlying account infrastructure and authorization infrastructure also allows for chargebacks, allows for refunds … covered by the same protections that you would get from any other payment card.

“The easiest way to upgrade or increase adoption is by making it look and feel the same,” he added. “Customer experience shouldn’t have to change.”

Stablecoins and tokenized deposits

What’s changed lately is the institutional readiness to use those improvements that stablecoins offer in real-world production, not just in sandboxes. But at the same time, and enthusiasm notwithstanding, unanswered policy and accounting questions remain.

Webster asked what executives worry about in one-on-one settings, and Malik was candid: “A lot of it is still as yet undefined. … A lot of the market rules are still as yet undefined … how that impacts accounting practices.”

The technical unknowns are just as real. Which chains win? Which token models dominate? Where do tokenized bank deposits fit relative to third-party stablecoins?

Malik expects that one year from now, we’ll be “talking a lot about how stablecoins and tokenized bank deposits interplay with each other,” and especially “how do we create interoperability between various closed loop systems … and the various open loop systems that already exist.”

‍This article originally appeared in PYMNTS.

Collaboration makes it faster and easier for fintechs, platforms, and enterprises to launch customizable, stablecoin-powered card programs at scale

Rain, the enterprise-grade infrastructure for stablecoin-powered payments, today announced a strategic partnership with Lithic designed to accelerate both companies’ growth, expand global distribution, and give partners more technology choices as they build and launch scaled card programs.

Rain has become the most experienced and scaled provider of stablecoin-powered card infrastructure—with more than 150 partners and millions of transactions processed in over 150 countries. Through this partnership with Lithic, Rain will dramatically expand its reach, making its ground-breaking stablecoin technology available to even more fintechs, platforms, and enterprises worldwide. By pairing Rain’s stablecoin-native card issuance and payments platform with Lithic’s expertise and issuing processing capabilities, the two companies will make it faster and easier for businesses to launch, integrate, and scale global card programs.

The partnership also gives Rain’s partners more choice in how they power their card programs through the integration of Lithic’s modern, developer-friendly processing platform known for its speed, scalability, and global resilience. With Lithic’s global issuer processor certification, the partnership enables the processing of stablecoin-powered transactions across the 150+ countries where Rain-issued cards are accepted. This ensures Rain partners have a best-in-class option for powering programs at scale, with advanced fraud prevention and real-time authorization capabilities. 

This partnership marks an important step forward for Rain. By combining our stablecoin infrastructure with Lithic’s reach and processing technology, we’re making it easier than ever for partners to launch, scale, and shape programs that fit their needs,” said Farooq Malik, CEO & Co-founder of Rain. “Together, we’re shaping the next chapter of programmable payments.”

Stablecoin-powered cards are a major growth frontier in payments, and Rain is at the forefront of making them work at scale,” said Bo Jiang, CEO & Co-founder of Lithic. “This partnership allows Lithic to bring our advanced processing platform into this fast-growing category and to support fintechs and card programs around the world. It’s an exciting opportunity to help our shared partners innovate faster.”

This collaboration highlights Rain’s mission to deliver the most flexible, powerful, and globally available infrastructure for stablecoin-powered payments — helping customers launch faster, scale globally, and unlock new revenue streams.

About Rain: Rain is the global stablecoin infrastructure platform for enterprises, neobanks, platforms, and developers. Our technology allows partners to move, store, and use stablecoins instantly and compliantly through global payment cards, on/off-ramps, wallets, and cross-border rails. As a Visa Principal Member, Rain issues cards that work anywhere Visa is accepted, powering millions of purchases in over 150 countries. Built natively for stablecoins and trusted by more than 100 organizations worldwide, Rain delivers secure, scalable infrastructure that makes money move freely and instantly around the world.

About Lithic: Lithic is the leading card issuing technology company built for high growth technology companies. Lithic's APIs and operational enablement services enable businesses to move money, build card programs, and issue debit, credit, and prepaid cards to consumers and businesses with unparalleled ease and flexibility. With a focus on empowering businesses to scale globally, Lithic is committed to providing innovative solutions that meet the evolving needs of the financial services industry. For more information, visit www.lithic.com. 

Read original press release here: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/rain-and-lithic-forge-strategic-partnership-to-accelerate-global-growth-of-stablecoin-powered-payments-302559998.html?tc=eml_cleartime

Launching a card program used to be a multi-quarter project: multiple intermediaries, bespoke bank relationships, and a long list of vendors to coordinate.

Rain was built to remove those layers. As a Visa Principal Member, we issue directly on the Visa network, which means fewer decision-makers, fewer handoffs, and go-to-market timelines measured in weeks, not years. Our partners typically launch in around six weeks, and Rain-powered Visa cards are accepted at over 150 million merchants, so your users can spend virtually anywhere Visa works.

A single integration with Rain can unlock multiple markets over time. The issuance platform is robust enough to support scaled, global programs, but flexible enough to let you design the program you want: consumer or commercial, Rain-managed or partner-managed flow of funds, with on-ramps, wallets, and off-ramps tailored to your specific use case.

Below is what the journey typically looks like from “we’re interested” to “cards are live.”

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Step 1: Scope your program

The first question to answer is how do you want to design your custom program?

• Who are you issuing to? Rain can issue both consumer cards (B2C) and corporate cards (B2B). 
• How do you want funds to move? You’ll choose between two core models: ‍
  
  • Option A: Rain-Managed flow of funds. In a Rain-Managed setup, we handle the smart contract and daily settlements with your users. A dedicated smart contract is created when a user opens a card, and they fund and manage it from their own wallet. Rain maintains the ongoing ledger and manages settlement with cardholders, while also handling liquidation to settle with Visa. This keeps your operational footprint light while still giving your users a seamless experience. This model is ideal if you want to move fast, reduce complexity, and avoid building a full ledger and settlement stack on day one.‍
  • Option B: Partner-Managed flow of funds. In a Partner-Managed setup, you keep full ownership and customization of how funds are managed. You maintain the reserve balance, decide whether to approve or decline each transaction via webhook, and build and maintain your own transaction ledger. You also settle directly with your customers, on your own terms, while Rain powers the Visa connectivity and handles liquidation to settle with Visa. This model is a fit if you want maximum control over treasury, collateral types, and customer settlement logic.

• What parts of the Rain stack do you need? We offer multiple capabilities to power the most effective and flexible card programs, including: 
  
  • On-ramps to convert fiat into stablecoins
  • Wallets to secure onchain assets and power card spend
  • Off-ramps to move back into local currencies
    

By the end of scoping, we’ll have a clear outline of your ideal program design and flow of funds.

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Step 2: Choose the right commercial model

Next, we walk through economics. Rain offers three pricing tiers. Across tiers, the balance shifts between:

• Share of interchange revenue you retain
• Program and platform fees
• Contract duration and commitments

Higher tiers typically come with a larger share of interchange in exchange for higher minimums or longer commitments; lower tiers keep fixed fees lighter for earlier-stage or experimental programs.

We’ll map each option to your expected volume and growth plans so you can choose a model that works in the near term and scales over time.

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Step 3: Get access to the API docs

Once we’ve aligned on design and commercials, and a mutual NDA is in place, we give your team access to our API documentation. It covers card issuance, flow of funds, balances, controls, webhooks, and more.

On request, we’ll also provision a sandbox environment where your engineers can test end-to-end flows without touching real funds.

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Step 4: Sign the agreement

With program design, pricing, and initial technical validation in place, we move to contracting.

The agreement formalizes:

• Your program scope (e.g., Rain-Managed vs Partner-Managed, card types, supported geos)
• Commercial terms (tier, fees, revenue share)
• Roles and responsibilities around compliance, risk, and support

Once the contract is executed, we officially kick off implementation.

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Step 5: Start on implementation

After signing, we set up your implementation experience based on your selected tier.

If your tier includes a dedicated implementation lead, you’ll be introduced to them right away. They will:

• Set up a shared communications channel (most commonly Slack)
• Give you access to our project management tool so you can see timelines, owners, and milestones
• Coordinate across compliance, engineering, and operations on both sides

If your tier does not include a dedicated implementation lead, you’ll still get access to the same organized project management workspace, including timelines, owners, milestones, and implementation checklists so your team can self-guide the rollout, with Rain available for support as needed.

From here, you move through a structured onboarding process that runs in parallel across compliance, development, and production readiness.

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Step 6: Implementation & onboarding

Onboarding is organized into three core tracks—Compliance, Development, and Production access.

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Compliance: getting your program approved

First, we collect the information needed to review your program from a regulatory and risk perspective. The documents we request are standard for any corporate due diligence process. For example: company formation documents, information on the source of funds, and identification details for ultimate beneficial owners (UBOs).

Once everything is received and reviewed, we issue compliance approval, clearing your program to move into production testing.

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Development: integration and testing

In parallel, your engineering team integrates with Rain and validates the full card lifecycle. Core steps include:

1. Review API docs: Your developers get familiar with endpoints, authentication, and webhook patterns.
2. Request sandbox access: We provision sandbox credentials and environments for your team.
3. Test the application flow: You build and test how users sign up, pass checks, and receive cards in your app.
4. Test card creation: Your system calls our APIs to create virtual and/or physical cards, confirming that data and controls are correctly set.
5. Show encrypted card details: You implement display of secure card details as needed for your use case.
6. Test transaction webhooks: You’ll test webhook handling for transactions, card creation, and other events to ensure you’ve tested every user scenario for your program.
   
   1. _{(For Partner-Managed Programs) Build your own ledger & authorization flow: For Partner-Managed programs, you will design, develop, and rigorously test your own ledger and authorization flow. Our API Docs contain detailed information about ledger best practices to help guide your team.} 
7. Submit a demo flow for approval: You’ll submit a recorded demo of the end-to-end user flow from your sandbox environment to Rain. We will closely review each step of the process and provide feedback and approval.  

During this phase, you’ll also kick off card design. We’ll provide templates for both virtual and physical cards, ensuring your designs meet Visa’s requirements. Because of card manufacturing lead times, fully custom physical cards can take up to four months from design to delivery, but we also offer faster-to-market template options if you need to move quickly.

By the end of this phase, you’ve proven that your integration works from sign-up to spend, and your card designs have entered production.

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Production access: controlled ramp-up

With compliance approved and development testing complete, we grant production access and run a controlled rollout. On the production testing and UX side, you will:

• Review and finalize Rain-templated user agreements
• Provide a production-ready demo flow for Rain’s review and approval 
• Conduct limited production testing with real users under controlled conditions
  
  

In parallel, your marketing team will submit all launch materials—such as landing pages, social campaigns, FAQs, and help center content—to Rain for review, feedback, and approval. This review is required to ensure your marketing assets align with Visa and Rain guidelines before going live.

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Ready for go-live and scale

Once production testing meets success criteria, final card terms are in place and approved, marketing materials are ready-to-go, and both teams are confident in system behavior, we mark the program ready for launch.

At this point:

• You can publish marketing materials
• You can expand access from pilot cohorts to your broader user base
• We continue to monitor performance, risk, and card network behavior closely
  

From there, you receive ongoing support from the Rain team covering technical questions, new feature launches, compliance updates, and expansion into new markets over time.

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Bringing it all together

Standing up a credit card program used to be a one-off, multi-year effort. With Rain, it’s a repeatable process:

1. Scope the program and choose your flow of funds
2. Select the commercial model that matches your economics
3. Sign the agreement
4. Move through a structured onboarding process covering compliance, development, production access, and marketing material development

The result is a fully branded, globally accepted card program built on stablecoin-powered rails, running on infrastructure that’s already proven at scale.

Rain's CEO and co-founder, Farooq Malik, sat down with Jacquelyn from Talking Tokens during the Wyoming Blockchain Symposium in Jackson Hole to unpack all things stablecoins, tokenized money, and Rain’s role in building the future of payments.

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You can listen to the full episode here.

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Farooq’s conversation offered a clear view into how stablecoins are evolving from niche assets into mainstream financial infrastructure. Below are the top takeaways from the discussion:

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1. Stablecoins need real utility

Issuing a stablecoin is only step one—the true test is whether people can actually use it. Billions of dollars sit in stablecoins today, but Rain is focused on turning them into money you can use anywhere Visa is accepted.

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2. Tokenized money is inevitable

Stablecoins, CBDCs, and tokenized deposits all point toward the same reality: tokenized money. By combining payment and reconciliation into a single process, tokenization solves inefficiencies that have long plagued traditional banking and payments.

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3. Building rails that feel familiar

Rain’s approach isn’t about changing consumer behavior—it’s about upgrading the backend. Just like mobile phones and streaming services reshaped industries without altering user habits overnight, Rain makes stablecoins “just another currency."

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4. Institutions are catching on

Rain has spent years preparing for regulatory clarity—and now that it’s here, interest is surging. From global banks to state governments like Wyoming with its new Frontier Stable Token, institutions are exploring how tokenized money can improve efficiency and broaden access.

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5. A global, open future

Farooq emphasized that openness will define the future of payments. Rain’s APIs and infrastructure allow banks, fintechs, and enterprises to integrate stablecoins or tokenized deposits seamlessly, scaling across borders with a single partner.

Farooq closed with a simple reminder: “Always believe the world could be better.” Stablecoins and tokenized money aren’t just about efficiency—they’re about building a financial system that works faster, costs less, and includes more people.

Today, we announced that Rain has raised $58 million in Series B funding, led by Sapphire Ventures and with participation from Dragonfly, Galaxy Ventures, Endeavor Catalyst, Samsung Next, Lightspeed, and Norwest. This investment will help us accelerate our progress toward becoming the global stablecoin enablement platform for enterprises, marketplaces, neobanks, and developers.

A pivotal moment for stablecoins

Over the past 18 months, stablecoins have moved from the periphery of finance to the center of global payment flows. In 2024 alone, they processed $27.6 trillion in transactions — more than Visa and Mastercard combined — and the number of active stablecoin wallets grew by over 50% year-over-year, now surpassing 30 million worldwide.

We are still early in the adoption curve. In many ways, stablecoins today are where mobile phones were in the late 1980s: powerful, but bulky and limited to a select few. Back then, mobile phones were reserved for executives and installed in cars; today, they’re in everyone’s pocket, transforming nearly every industry. Stablecoins are on a similar path as they move from niche usage to universal utility at a pace that will feel inevitable in hindsight.

Those of you who have been following our journey know we announced our Series A in March of this year. That raise was about expanding the global footprint of our card issuance solution, and boy did we deliver:

• Since January 2025, card transactions are up 10x, with partners seeing sustained double-digit monthly growth.
• A single Rain integration now unlocks access to a serviceable market of over 1.5 billion people worldwide.
• End users are transacting in over 150 countries — from purchases at local merchants to online marketplace payouts.

Our infrastructure is being used by companies like Nuvei, which pays merchants seven days a week in stablecoins through Rain-powered accounts, and Nomad, whose customers in Brazil can save, store, and spend in dollars seamlessly for anything from coffee to Starlink.

Why we raised

If our Series A was about scaling our card platform, this raise is about expanding the full stack of services enterprises need to launch and scale stablecoin-based products:

• Money-In: Integrated on-ramps and virtual accounts to support more fiat-backed programs globally.
• Wallets & Accounts: Embedded wallets that allow any app or platform to compliantly hold stablecoins.
• Money-Out: Real-time cross-border payout rails, advanced treasury controls, and multi-currency off-ramps.

Our goal is to be the one-stop shop for stablecoin adoption, so partners can focus on their customers and leave the complexity of global payments infrastructure to us.

At the same time, we’re doubling down on supporting the customers who are already winning with Rain. Their programs are growing at an extraordinary pace, and this raise ensures we can scale our infrastructure, services, and collaboration alongside them. That means even faster onboarding, better end-to-end customer experiences, and deeper co-development to help our partners grow their programs and reach new markets even faster.

We’re pleased to have chosen Sapphire to back this enterprise-worthy ambition. Their belief in the future of programmable, globally accessible money — and their experience helping companies scale into regulated, multi-jurisdictional environments — make them the right partner for our next stage.

We’re also grateful to our returning investors, including Norwest, Lightspeed, and Galaxy Ventures, for reaffirming their support.

The way money was supposed to be

The earliest form of money was beads, seeds, shells, and coins. When it was exchanged, it moved instantly from one hand to another. Over time, the whole system slowed down, introducing delays, intermediaries, and unnecessary costs.

Rain builds the technology that makes money move freely again:

• So a global marketplace can pay sellers across 50 countries in seconds, not weeks, without needing a web of bank accounts.
• So the freelance engineer in Argentina can get paid instantly, securely store their income in stablecoins, and use it to purchase their children’s back-to-school gear.
• So the auto manufacturer can pay suppliers as soon as materials arrive at port, receive raw materials days sooner, and keep their factories humming.

If you’re involved with payments at your company and these types of improvements excite you, we’d love to work with you. Reach out to connect with our team.

And if you want to help build this future, we’re hiring across every team to meet the demand from partners ready to embed stablecoins into their products. Explore careers at Rain here.

Rain has experienced 10x growth in 2025 and now powers service to 1.5B+ people through a single integration

Rain, the enterprise-grade infrastructure for stablecoin-powered payments, today announced a $58 million Series B funding round led by Sapphire Ventures, with participation from Dragonfly, Galaxy Ventures, Endeavor Catalyst, Samsung Next, Lightspeed, and Norwest. The raise brings Rain’s total funding to $88.5M and comes just five months after the company’s Series A — cementing Rain’s role as the single integration global fintechs, banks, and marketplaces use to launch compliant stablecoin-powered cards, wallets, and payment programs.

Enterprise interest in stablecoins has surged following the GENIUS Act in the U.S. and the MiCA framework in Europe, which have created a clear regulatory path for adoption. Rain’s vertically integrated platform enables partners to embed stablecoins into products and operations — covering money-in, storage, spending, and money-out — all through one API. Partners can compliantly launch programs to over 1.5 billion people today, with expansion underway into Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia-Pacific.

Rain has pioneered making stablecoins instantly usable anywhere Visa is accepted through its physical and virtual card programs, processing millions of transactions across 150+ countries. The company’s transaction volume has grown 10x since January 2025, with portfolio partners — including Nuvei, Avalanche, Dakota, and Nomad — using Rain’s infrastructure for merchant payouts, everyday consumer purchases, B2B spend, and cross-border payroll.

Stablecoins are shifting to the backbone of global commerce,” said Farooq Malik, CEO and Co-founder of Rain. “In its earliest form, money moved instantly. We’ve spent centuries slowing it down. Rain is bringing that simplicity back to billions of people, but now it works across any border, any platform, and any currency.”

Rain is a Visa Principal Member and uniquely settles 100% of card payment volume directly in stablecoins on the Visa network. The platform is built natively for stablecoins, not retrofitted from fiat rails, and meets enterprise compliance standards including PCI DSS, SOC 2, and audited smart contracts.

Stablecoins have scaled to hundreds of billions in circulation, but until now, they couldn’t be easily spent. Rain is working to fix that by connecting stablecoins to Visa’s global network, turning them into money you can actually use for everyday commerce. We’re proud to partner with Farooq, Charles, and the Rain team as they redefine the future of payments,” said Jai Das, President and Partner at Sapphire Ventures, as well as Rain’s newest Board Director.

The new funding will be used to expand Rain’s platform and services to give global institutions the most flexible, modular, and compliant stablecoin infrastructure available. The company is also investing in hiring across engineering, commercial, and compliance teams; helping existing partners scale programs; and entering into new markets where enterprises are embracing stablecoin-based payment workflows.

Read original press release here: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/rain-raises-58m-series-b-led-by-sapphire-ventures-to-become-the-enterprise-stablecoin-platform-of-record-302540587.html?tc=eml_cleartime

Offramp becomes first partner to offer USD+ accounts with integrated Rain-issued cards

Rain, the enterprise-grade infrastructure for stablecoin-powered payments, today announced native support for USD+, a yield-bearing stablecoin issued by Dinari, the leading provider of tokenized U.S. public securities. With this integration, Rain’s partners—including Offramp—can now offer customers outside of the United States the ability to hold USD+ and use it globally through Rain-issued cards.

USD+ is backed 1:1 by U.S. Treasuries and cash equivalents and currently yields approximately 5% APY. It enables users to earn while they hold, creating a radically better financial experience for those in regions where traditional dollar accounts are inaccessible or underwhelming.

Through Rain’s API, partners can now offer users digital dollar accounts that automatically earn yield, without requiring minimum balances, foreign bank accounts, or complex investment products. These balances are instantly spendable anywhere Visa is accepted—turning idle funds into an income-generating, global payment source.

Offramp, a global neobank with a focus in emerging markets such as LATAM, is the first to roll out this capability. Users of Offramp located outside of the United States can hold USD+ in their accounts, earn daily yield, and use that balance for purchases around the world with their Offramp card and invest in tokenized equities through Dinari’s dShares™.

“From the very beginning, we designed Rain’s technology to be token-agnostic, stablecoin-native, and built to evolve as the asset landscape expands. Our ability to seamlessly extend support to USD+ exemplifies the strength of our platform,” said Charles Yoo-Naut, CTO & Co-Founder at Rain. “By supporting USD+, we’re giving partners like Offramp the ability to launch products that are both financially compelling and frictionless.”

USD+ is issued and settled on the Dinari Financial Network, which also powers dShares™—Dinari’s fully-backed, compliant tokenized equities. These building blocks enable neobanks, brokers, and fintechs to offer their customers regulated access to U.S. financial products that were previously out of reach.

“Rain’s integration of USD+ proves our infrastructure powers both yield-bearing stablecoins and tokenized equities for partners,” said Gabe Otte, Co-Founder & CEO of Dinari. “Our mission is to democratize access to U.S. dollars and equities globally. With Rain, fintechs can now put those dollars directly into users’ hands, where they can grow and remain spendable.”

“We’re excited to deepen our partnership with Rain and Dinari as the first launch partner for USD+. Through Rain’s support for USD+, we’ll be able to unlock the true potential of stablecoins for users in emerging markets by combining spendability with yield generation,” said Luc Loja, CEO & Founder of Offramp. “This is a historic milestone in stablecoin innovation.”

Dinari Inc. is a Registered Transfer Agent with the United States Securities & Exchange Commission (Section 17A(c)). Dinari dShares are not currently available in the United States and certain jurisdictions as limited by law.

While progress on a U.S. central bank digital currency has ground to a halt, government involvement in cryptocurrency has not disappeared entirely.

The Wyoming Stable Token Commission this week launched the Frontier Stable Token (FRNT), a state-issued, dollar-pegged stablecoin that is designed for what it calls "real-world" transactions.

The commission partnered with Ava Labs' Avalanche, a blockchain platform that supports decentralized applications and smart contracts; and Rain, a global card issuing platform designed for stablecoins.

"FRNT will make government processes more efficient," Anthony Apollo, executive director of the Wyoming Stable Token Commission, told American Banker, noting disaster recovery funding, disbursements and resource management can be improved, along with more funding for the state's schools and other initiatives.

The state's stablecoin comes as dozens of banks, fintechs and retailers consider launching a stablecoin in the wake of the Genius Act's passage. But while most of these moves are exploratory, Wyoming is an early mover in actual issuance, and its new stablecoin embeds the state deeper into not only cryptocurrency, but also the broader digital payments market.

"Wyoming launching its own dollar stablecoin is a watershed in several respects, which raises major public policy issues. It's the first public entity to launch a dollar stablecoin," Eric Grover, a principal at Intrepid Ventures, told American Banker.

What is Wyoming's stablecoin?‍

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FRNT is backed by short-duration U.S. Treasury bills and U.S. dollars, with a 102% reserve as required by the Wyoming Stable Token Act, an enabling state law that passed in 2023, two years before the federal stablecoin-focused Genius Act. One of FRNT's partners, Rain, in May joined Visa's stablecoin settlement project, and is the issuer of FRNT's physical card, which can be used to make payments within Visa's merchant network. FRNT also supports Apple Pay and Google Pay.

Other FRNT participants include LayerZero, which supports token issuance; Fireblocks'  blockchain infrastructure; Franklin Advisers to manage FRNT's reserves; Inca Digital, which will supply for open-source technology; and The Network Firm, which will perform for audits and monthly attestations, or the statement that reports a stablecoin's backing assets.

In testing, FRNT supported contractor disbursements through Hashfire, a Wyoming-based company that converts contracts into digital assets to speed payments. These payments executed in a "few seconds," according to FRNT's release, which positions FRNT as an option for government-to-business payments.

FRNT's issuers say tax refunds, social benefits and other government payments can be put "on chain," creating speed and efficiency, contending it can be a model for other states.

Wyoming's stablecoin has been deployed on the Arbitrum, Avalanche, Base, Ethereum, Optimism, Polygon, and Solana blockchains.

FRNT is available to users outside of Wyoming, and the stablecoin will have its use cases broadened in the future to potentially include remittances and other transfers, Apollo said.

The state Commission said it does not anticipate selling FRNT directly to the public but will make it available for purchase through a network of authorized resellers that the commission will vet through a "Know Your Business" review.

FRNT can generate revenue through interest earned on its reserves (held in cash and short-term U.S. Treasury bills), Morgan Krupetsky, vice president of onchain finance at Ava Labs, told American Banker in an email, adding this income can support the Wyoming School Foundation program along with other Wyoming programs.  

In addition to direct interest income, Wyoming can potentially reap broader economic benefits from FRNT, including diversified revenue streams, Krupetsky said. "FRNT offers a potential source of revenue beyond the state's traditional energy and tourism sectors."

Wyoming has long been a crypto-forward state politically, passing more than three-dozen laws in recent years that give regulatory support for custody, licensing, consumer protections and charters for crypto banks.

"Wyoming's efforts in blockchain and digital asset regulation, including FRNT, are intended to attract businesses and professionals in fintech and related fields, such as artificial intelligence and energy," Krupestky said. "FRNT can encourage the development of new payment systems and DeFi applications built on its infrastructure."

FRNT puts a state's imprimatur on dollar stablecoins, Grover said.

"The state also hopes to make money on its overcollateralized stablecoin. Presumably, it'll try to spur adoption by paying vendors with FRNT," Grover said. "Providing for widespread interoperability over multiple blockchains will give it a better shot at achieving widespread use."

Is FRNT a state CBDC?‍

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FRNT enters a rapidly growing stablecoin market. The U.S. Treasury projects the stablecion market may pass $2 trillion by 2028, up dramatically from its current level of about $260 billion.

Crypto-focused companies such as Tether and Circle have dominated that market thus far, but there's an expectation that more financial institutions and other firms will issue stablecoins in the coming years.

"Will other states issue stablecoins? And what are their goals?" Gareth Lodge, a senior analyst at Celent, told American Banker. "Many of the states argued hard against CBDCs, yet FRNT looks very like a CBDC."

Apollo said that while he understands the comparison to a CBDC, there are differences. "What we're doing is almost 'anti CBDC,'" he said, noting Wyoming does not have a central bank and is not issuing digital dollars without backing it with reserves. "We're not conjuring dollars out of the ether." There are also privacy protections for FRNB, Apollo said. Some of the criticisms of a CBDC included the fear that it could be used for surveillance. Wyoming's laws ensure protection of the private user keys on the blockchain, Apollo said.

FRNB is a public option in a crowded market. There's already a fast-expanding roster of nonbanks and banks innovating and competing in dollar stablecoins, Grover said.

"Today, while the Fed issues cash- distributed by banks, and electronic dollars for banks, most money used by consumers and businesses is issued by commercial banks," Grover said.

Wyoming's token also acts as a payment system, Grover said. "While the Fed runs several interbank payment systems competing with bank cooperative TCH, the private sector runs most of our payment systems, through Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover, Zelle, PayPal, Venmo, Cash App, and others."

This article originally appeared in American Banker.

Frontier Stable Token (FRNT) Debuts Rain-Issued Card on Avalanche For Everyday Stablecoin Spending

Announced at SALT’s Wyoming Blockchain Symposium, FRNT is Wyoming’s production-grade, dollar-pegged digital asset built on Avalanche and now available to use via Rain’s Visa-integrated platform, signaling a new era of programmable commerce.

The Wyoming Stable Token Commission, in collaboration with Avalanche and Rain, today unveiled the mainnet launch of the Frontier Stable Token (FRNT), the first state-issued, dollar-pegged stablecoin that can be used instantly for real-world transactions via Rain’s Visa-integrated card platform. Debuting on the heels of the GENIUS Act at the SALT Wyoming Blockchain Symposium, this milestone marks the first use case of a production-grade government-issued digital asset on a public blockchain, transforming programmable commerce from policy vision into everyday reality.

Mandated by the Wyoming Stable Token Act, FRNT is a fully-collateralized digital token backed by short-duration U.S. Treasury bills and U.S. dollars, with a statutorily-mandated 102% reserve requirement. Built on Avalanche for its sub-second finality, low transaction fees, and institutional ecosystem, FRNT is designed to meet both enterprise- and citizen-level payment needs.

Through Rain’s stablecoin infrastructure, FRNT will be usable anywhere Visa is accepted–including through Apple Pay, Google Pay, and physical cards–marking a historic first for a U.S. state-issued digital asset. The Rain-issued card represents the first live, in-production use case for FRNT, marking the token’s transition from controlled testnet environments into full-scale, real-world deployment, powered by Avalanche.

“While Wyoming has been the leading state for cryptocurrency, blockchain, and digital assets legislation for nearly a decade, the issuance of FRNT signals a paradigm shift,” said Anthony Apollo, Executive Director of the Wyoming Stable Token Commission. “In addition to regulation, public entities now have a model for innovation that can make government processes significantly more efficient. From paying vendors in seconds to enabling tax refunds and social benefits on-chain, FRNT brings state action into the programmable era.”

FRNT is already exhibiting transformational public sector utility. In July 2025, Wyoming demonstrated real-time contractor payments using FRNT via Hashfire, a Wyoming-domiciled company and Codebase-winning protocol built on Avalanche. By automating contract execution and stablecoin disbursement, the pilot reduced payment timelines from 45 days to seconds (a 99.99995% efficiency gain), setting a new bar for government-to-businesses (G2B) payments and financial transparency.

FRNT is a blueprint for collaboration between public entities and private industry by combining legal oversight from the Wyoming Stable Token Commission, high-speed and regulatory-compliant infrastructure from Avalanche, and fintech integration from Rain. By proving viability at the state level, Wyoming’s blueprint invites replication by other U.S. states seeking faster payments, revenue diversification, and modernization of public finance.

“The launch of FRNT marks the first in-production use case of a state-issued stablecoin in the United States, proving blockchain-powered government can be efficient, transparent, and designed for public good,” said John Wu, President of Ava Labs. “By launching natively on Avalanche, FRNT combines legal accountability with sub-second finality, low fees, and seamless interoperability – all essential ingredients for blockchain to deliver real economic utility. We’re excited to be a part of this historic financial innovation.”

With over 45 blockchain laws passed since 2016, Wyoming continues to lead national policy on digital assets and is exploring exporting its model to other states and international partners. FRNT is built for cross-chain interoperability, DeFi integration, and future government-to-citizen use cases, including benefits, tax refunds, and real-time aid.

“Today’s launch is a powerful example of Rain’s mission in action. We build financial infrastructure that makes stablecoins like FRNT instantly usable anywhere in the world,” said Farooq Malik, CEO & Co-founder of Rain. “It’s an honor to work with pioneering agencies like the Wyoming Stable Token Commission to turn bold ideas into real-world impact.”

To learn more about FRNT, please visit the Wyoming Stable Token Commission Site.

About Wyoming Stable Token Commission

Established in March 2023 under the Wyoming Stable Token Act, the Commission is tasked with issuing fully-backed stablecoins that align with state laws and fiscal responsibility. Its mission is to enhance financial transparency while driving economic growth through blockchain innovation.

About Rain

Rain is a global card issuing and payments platform powered by stablecoins. As a Visa Principal Member, Rain enables partners to launch branded card programs quickly and compliantly—without relying on third-party banks or fragmented infrastructure. Rain’s developer-friendly API offers a fully customizable, full-stack issuance solution that supports both custodial and non-custodial wallets and operates natively across multiple blockchain networks. Rain-issued cards are accepted at over 150 million merchants worldwide, making digital assets instantly usable anywhere Visa is accepted. Trusted by industry leaders, Rain is rebuilding essential financial infrastructure to allow money to flow more efficiently across the globe.

About Avalanche 

Avalanche is an ultra-fast, low-latency blockchain platform designed for builders who need high performance at scale. The network’s architecture allows for the creation of sovereign, efficient and fully interoperable public and private layer 1 (L1) blockchains which leverage the Avalanche Consensus Mechanism to achieve high throughput and near-instant transaction finality. The ease and speed of launching an L1, and the breadth of architectural customization choices, make Avalanche the perfect environment for a composable multi-chain future. 

Supported by a global community of developers and validators, Avalanche offers a fast, low-cost environment for building decentralized applications (dApps). With its combination of speed, flexibility, and scalability, Avalanche is the platform of choice for innovators pushing the boundaries of blockchain technology.

In a world obsessed with mobile payments and digital wallets, it might surprise you to learn that 65% of consumer payments in North America still happen with a physical card. Turns out, what’s in your wallet still matters. Physical cards aren’t just holding their ground—they’re winning trust, delivering reliability, and stepping in when phones glitch, batteries die, or Wi-Fi ghosts you at checkout.

So why double down on plastic in a pixel-obsessed world? Because the right card in the right hands can deliver real-world value, drive revenue, and put your brand in motion:

1. Your Brand, in Their Hands: A physical card puts your brand in wallets, pockets, and daily routines. Whether it’s swiped at the café or tapped at the airport, every transaction becomes a brand moment.
2. Stand Out by Design: In a sea of sameness, a well-designed card (think metal, translucent, or even glow-in-the-dark) becomes a conversation starter and a signal that your brand means business.
3. Earn While You Issue: If you charge a fee for physical cards, you open a new revenue stream. Physical cards don’t just enhance the user experience—they boost your bottom line.
4. Loyalty You Can Feel: Perks and rewards hit differently when they’re tied to something tangible. Physical cards help deepen emotional loyalty and keep users coming back for more.
5. Turn Digital into Real-world Utility: For crypto-backed programs, a physical card bridges the gap between onchain assets and real-world purchases. It makes abstract value feel usable, familiar, and, frankly, exciting.

Options that fit your flow

When done right, physical cards are strategic assets. At Rain, we make it simple to design and launch card programs that shine in the real world. Our full-stack platform gives you end-to-end control, and we even integrate with top-tier card manufacturers, like Arculus® by CompoSecure, to help your card stand out.

These partners bring creativity and craftsmanship to physical cards, offering standout materials such as metal, transparent elements, or even illuminated cards. Premium metal cards, in particular, stand out as a favorite, with 70% of customers saying they’d prefer metal over plastic if all benefits were equal.

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Whether you’re sprinting to launch or investing in a fully custom experience, Rain offers three flexible options:

Generic cards: Generic cards are white, unbranded cards that are ready to go, no design or customization needed.

1. Timeline: Looking to launch immediately
2. Best for: Running a small pilot, issuing fewer than 1,000 cards.

Semi-custom cards: Semi-custom cards allow you to add your logo to the front of the generic white card. Custom shipping carriers can also be set up for an additional branded touch.

1. Timeline: ~4 weeks for logo customization; 2–3 weeks for branded carriers (which can be done in-parallel with logo customization).
2. Best for: Quick launches with a light brand layer, small-to-medium card quantities.

Custom cards: For companies where physical cards are a key part of the brand experience, fully custom cards provide the highest degree of control and polish. You can customize everything, from front and back design to materials (like metal or glass) and even the shipping experience. Premium metal cards have been shown to create the most impact and often become top of wallet, making them a proven driver of loyalty and usage.

1. Timeline: A few weeks for design and up to 2–3 months or longer for manufacturing, depending on complexity.
2. Best for: Programs with large-scale volume goals and strong brand integration.

The path to physical

Custom cards offer the highest level of personalization, but they also require a more involved process. Here's a step-by-step look at what you can expect when launching a fully custom physical card with Rain:

1. Design (2 weeks): Upload your custom design, get feedback, and lock in materials and quantities with the manufacturer. 
2. Proofing (2 weeks): Your design is turned into a full spec proof (including artwork, material selections, and card specs) and submitted to you and Visa simultaneously for review. 
3. Approval (2 weeks): You’ll review everything, request tweaks, and then greenlight production. 
4. Manufacturing (10+ weeks): The manufactures get to work (note: custom materials like metal or glass may extend timelines further). 
5. Testing (2 weeks): Cards are sent to the personalization site for functional testing to make sure it’s ready for real-world use.
6. Go live (1 week after testing): Your cards ship and your users start flexing your brand.

Physical cards bridge the gap between digital innovation and tangible brand presence. Rain makes it easy to launch, scale, and stand out. If you’re ready to put your card program in motion, we’re ready to help you make it rain—one swipe at a time.

Let’s talk.

Stablecoins have opened the door to programmable money. But using that value in daily life—whether for purchases, payouts, or subscriptions—still requires an invisible layer of infrastructure that can connect digital assets to the real world.

At Rain, we build that infrastructure. And we’re excited to partner with Rizon, a new digital finance platform helping users activate their stablecoin balances across the Visa network. 

Through this partnership, Rizon is launching a card product that allows users to access the value of their USDC holdings anywhere Visa is accepted. Behind the scenes, Rain provides the full stack: card issuance, transaction routing, real-time conversion, and onchain settlement.

This is exactly the kind of use case we’re here to enable—giving developers the tools to build consumer-facing products without having to manage banking relationships, compliance complexity, or FX operations.

Here’s what happens when a Rizon user taps their card:

• The transaction is routed through Visa’s network to Rain.
• Rain verifies the cardholder and authorizes the transaction.
• The merchant is paid out by Visa in local fiat.
• Rain handles payments from Rizon Cardholders.
• Rain settles daily onchain with Visa in USDC. 

It all happens in the background, in a matter of milliseconds—allowing users to activate their digital dollars globally with no added friction.

Rizon joins a growing set of developers and fintechs using Rain to go to market faster with crypto-enabled financial products. Because we provide everything from BIN sponsorship to transaction monitoring to regulatory localization, Rizon can focus on product and user experience while Rain handles the heavy lifting behind the curtain.

Whether users are transacting online in the U.S. or withdrawing local currency at an ATM in Mexico, the infrastructure adapts to support fast, compliant, real-time flows.

This latest launch is a clear example of how programmable finance moves from concept to reality. When builders have access to compliant, developer-first infrastructure, stablecoins don’t just sit idle in wallets—they become tools for global commerce, payouts, and access.

We're proud to support Rizon in launching a cross-border product that puts stablecoins to work—backed by Rain’s infrastructure and Visa’s global reach.

If you’re building financial products that require seamless utilization, localized card issuance, or programmable payment flows, we’d love to talk.

Certification deepens enterprise-grade trust by building on Rain’s SOC 2 certification and ongoing smart contract audits by Sherlock

Rain, the global card issuing and payments platform powered by stablecoins, today announced that it has achieved compliance with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS). This milestone reinforces Rain's commitment to compliance and security, giving partners confidence that their card programs are built on infrastructure that meets the highest standards.

PCI DSS is a globally recognized standard that mandates rigorous security controls for organizations that handle payment card data. Rain's compliance with this standard ensures that its infrastructure meets the highest levels of security, safeguarding sensitive payment information and reinforcing trust with partners and users alike.

"Achieving PCI DSS compliance is a testament to our dedication to building secure, compliant, and scalable payment solutions," said Christopher Grieco, General Counsel & Chief Compliance Officer at Rain. "This accomplishment complements our SOC 2 certification and the ongoing audits of our smart contracts by Sherlock, highlighting our holistic approach to security and compliance."

Rain is a full-stack, developer-friendly card issuance and payments platform. As a Visa Principal Member, Rain enables programs to launch in weeks—not months—without unnecessary middlemen or fragmented infrastructure. Enterprise institutions, fintechs, and crypto-native platforms rely on Rain’s speed, flexibility, and compliance-first approach to power millions of transactions in over 150 countries annually.

"Our enterprise clients demand the highest standards of security and compliance," said Farooq Malik, CEO & Co-founder of Rain. "With PCI DSS compliance, we're not just meeting those expectations, but exceeding them to ensure our partners can confidently scale their card programs globally.”

Read original press release here: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/rain-achieves-pci-dss-compliance-reinforcing-commitment-to-secure-compliant-stablecoin-infrastructure-302506823.html?tc=eml_cleartime

When Offramp set out to unlock financial access in LATAM, they weren’t thinking small. The crypto-native company saw stablecoins not as an end, but as a gateway—one that could give users in emerging markets real-world utility and global reach. So they turned to Rain to help bring that vision to life, launching an international Visa card that makes it easy to use digital assets wherever Visa is accepted. We sat down with Tobias Frieder, Head of LATAM and Growth at Offramp, to hear how they’re making crypto practical—and why card-based payments are central to their strategy.

Tell us more about Offramp and your broader mission?

Tobias Frieder: Offramp’s mission is to offer first-world banking solutions to users in emerging markets. When someone opens an Offramp account, they get access to an international Visa card that allows them to use crypto and stablecoins anywhere Visa is accepted.

We believe that stablecoins are a powerful tool to globalize the economy and promote equitable access to financial opportunities. With Offramp, users can open an account, receive international payments as freelancers, send funds back home as expats, and even access investment opportunities in US stocks and bonds.

Why did you decide to focus on Latin America?

Tobias: I wouldn’t say that we chose Latin America, I would say Latin America chose us. We launched Offramp globally about a year ago, and people began recommending it and using it through word of mouth. It grew organically. People from all over the world started using Offramp to access their stablecoins, but Latin America quickly became our main region. So we decided to double down.

It actually makes a lot of sense. The region faces high inflation, weak local currencies, and limited access to credit and investment options. Stablecoins offer a way to protect value, and Offramp helps people put that value to work—whether they're freelancers getting paid internationally, people sending remittances, or everyday users looking for better ways to manage their money.

What are the main use cases you're seeing?

Tobias: We're seeing two main use cases:

1. Crypto-native daily usage: Offramp has become a natural solution for users who earn their salary in crypto or hold their savings onchain. By allowing these users to make everyday payments (including digital subscriptions) while maintaining self-custody—without going through local exchanges, banks, or peer-to-peer markets—we’re helping them use crypto in daily life.
2. Cross-border payments and remote work: Remittances and payments for freelancers and remote workers have grown significantly. These users are looking for fast, borderless ways to access and use their earnings, and Offramp provides a reliable and crypto-native option to do just that.

What motivated you to launch a card program?

Tobias: We launched the card program because we believe payments are not the last step of crypto adoption—they’re the gateway.

If we want crypto to reach the next billion users, especially in emerging markets, it needs to go beyond being just a savings vehicle or speculative tool. People need to be able to pay for things like coffee, groceries, or a bus ticket—simply and instantly.

We see the card as the tool that makes crypto useful and accessible in daily life. It also closes the circle for crypto-native users who are already buying, trading, borrowing, earning, and tokenizing onchain—but still can’t make everyday purchases. Now they can.

Why did you choose Rain to power your card program?

Tobias: We chose Rain because of their strong technology and clear commitment to long-term partnership.

From the start, they made the process of launching our card program seamless. Their platform gave us the flexibility and speed we needed to serve users across emerging markets, something that was critical for us.

What really set Rain apart was the level of support. Their team felt like an extension of ours, helping us navigate complex requirements around compliance, user experience, and regional nuances.

They also move fast. In an industry where vendors can be slow to adapt, Rain was responsive to feedback and quick to iterate. That agility has made a huge difference, it feels like a genuine partnership.

What’s next for Offramp?

Tobias: We’re always working to improve the user experience, and we have a lot of new features and upgrades coming in the next month.

We’re launching improved mobile apps for iOS and Android, working on fiat deposits in several markets and currencies, and expanding our savings and investment products. We’re also rolling out loyalty features like referral programs and cashback. And that’s just the beginning.