Money
in motion

With a total market capitalization of more than $300 billion, stablecoins have quickly become one of the most widely-held digital assets in the world.

US dollar-backed stablecoins are increasingly being used to move money across borders and preserve purchasing power, particularly in high-inflation economies. But as adoption scales, a core question remains: if someone sent you stablecoins, how would you spend them?

That’s why Rain started with cards. Our infrastructure connects stablecoins directly to global payment networks, making them spendable virtually everywhere. For individuals and businesses in high-inflation markets like Bolivia, this is transformative economic access.

Watch the full video to see how Rain works, and if you’re ready to launch a stablecoin payment solution, let’s talk.

Over the past decade, brands ranging from sweetgreen and McDonalds to Nike and Ford have invested heavily in owned digital experiences by developing and launching branded apps. But most in-app interactions still represent a limited window of engagement. Users show up when they need something, then leave.

Take a sports team app, for example. Fans might download the app and open it on game day to check a player’s stats or the season’s schedule, and then they move on. User behavior is episodic.

Many brands try to solve this problem with an add-on rewards offering, but even these efforts still fall short of creating a habitual user experience. With a typical rewards layer, fans could earn points when they buy tickets or merchandise, which can then be redeemed for discounts on future purchases. The issue is these payments are made with third party, not co-branded, cards, so the team isn’t earning on interchange revenue, and the fan isn’t collecting rewards on the rest of their everyday spending.

Add in a payments component, though, and the app suddenly gains a lot more utility. For fans, this means a way to earn brand-specific perks, even on unrelated spending. For businesses, this means more revenue and higher retention.

Rain’s Branded Wallet-in-a-Box gives businesses everything they need to launch a robust payments program in the app their customers already use.

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Turn intermittent engagement into everyday utility

When a brand offers a co-branded card and integrates it inside its own app, they can start creating spend-driven loyalty. This isn’t a points program bolted onto the side, but a financial layer that strengthens the relationship between the brand and the user with every transaction, on or off the platform.

Instead of engaging only in limited moments, like game day, a payments layer incentivizes users to engage more often.

Here’s what businesses get with Rain’s Branded Wallet-in-a-Box:

• A white-labled wallet embedded into an existing app or experience
• Onramps that allow users to fund accounts with both crypto and fiat currencies, including through cards and ACH
• Stablecoin-backed balances with conversion handled behind the scenes
• Programmable rewards tied to user spend or other activities
• Merchant and brand-funded rewards and sponsorship opportunities
• Rain-issued cards that can be used anywhere Visa is accepted

The result is a branded payments and loyalty experience that works on-platform, and in the real world, wherever your users spend.

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Rewards with real attribution and ROI

Rewards are the layer that makes branded payments truly sticky. With Rain, rewards aren’t limited to purchases inside your own checkout flow.

With co-branded cards usable anywhere Visa is accepted, brands can utilize transaction data in real time. Rain helps you partner with third party businesses to create merchant-funded incentive programs, meaning users can earn where they’re already spending money — like their nearby grocery store, routine gas station, or favorite online retailer. Every redemption becomes an attributable event, and every campaign can be evaluated through transaction data, delivering measurable return on ad spend.
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Why this works

Most loyalty programs are add-ons that live outside the core product experience. Points are tracked in a separate system, rewards are redeemed somewhere else, and the loop between spending and value is weak.

Closed-loop payments, like the bank-like system Starbucks uses, solve part of that problem, but introduce a new one. If value can only be spent inside a single ecosystem, usage is capped by how often a customer shops there.

Rain’s approach is different: embed the wallet and rewards inside the app, then extend spending via co-branded cards that work anywhere Visa is accepted. Businesses get full visibility into spend behavior and can earn interchange on every transaction, not just purchases made in their own checkout flow.

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More efficiencies for businesses, same experience for users

Rain’s stablecoin-native rails make card programs more accessible for brands who otherwise would be priced out by traditional issuing economics. We settle with Visa every single day — including weekends and holidays — dramatically reducing working capital and reserve requirements for businesses.  

Stablecoins make things cheaper and faster, but because Rain’s infrastructure keeps the complexity on the back end, partners and cardholders can reap the benefits without needing to touch crypto or change how they pay. Programs can be funded in fiat via wire, ACH, or SWIFT transfers, and for cardholders, swiping a Rain-issued card is the same familiar experience they know and expect.

Every Rain-issued card program includes required KYC and AML workflows. We cover onboarding, identity verification, ongoing monitoring, and country-specific requirements, so you can stay compliant without having to build your own risk and ops stack.

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The next era of branded platforms

A payments layer takes branded apps to the next level.

The ability to store value, spend anywhere, and earn brand-native rewards transforms occasionally visited platforms into something users embed into their daily lives. For businesses, payments mean better retention and new revenue streams.

Rain’s Branded Wallet-in-a-Box helps you launch this experience quickly, without compromising on compliance, card usability, or global scale.

If you’re a brand looking to turn intermittent engagement into a daily habit loop, let’s talk.

Stablecoins have quickly become one of the most widely-held digital assets in the world. In 2025, the total stablecoin market capitalization surpassed $300 billion.

So far, demand has mostly been driven by companies and consumers looking to settle cross-border invoices or send remittances. Cryptocurrency traders also use stablecoins as a way to access liquidity. In each case, stablecoins have proven their value as efficient settlement tools and digital dollar equivalents that move quickly across borders.

Thanks to the countless crypto exchanges and wallet providers available, it's easier than ever for businesses and consumers to buy, hold, and send stablecoins. But after the trade is made, or the invoice is settled, or the remittance is received, the recipient is left with a question: how can these stablecoins be used to make everyday purchases?

The answer is that it’s not easy. Turning a crypto wallet balance into value that real-world merchants accept can be an expensive, long process with multiple intermediaries along the way.  

Easy to acquire, hard to spend

Consider a contractor who gets paid in USDC, one of the most popular stablecoins. It is an excellent currency for settling invoices because transfers are fast and inexpensive, even internationally. A business sends the contractor’s payment to their wallet, and now that value sits onchain, fully settled in seconds.

But when the contractor wants to use that USDC to buy their morning coffee or their ChatGPT subscription, the experience becomes more complicated.

In most cases, here is what they would need to do:

1. Transfer the USDC to an exchange or conversion provider
2. Convert to fiat
3. Withdraw to a bank account and pay the related fees
4. Wait a couple of business days for the funds to show up in the account
5. Buy the coffee

Of course, waiting two business days to buy a $6 latte or pay for a critical digital subscription is impractical. Stablecoins move instantly onchain, but the moment you want to use them in the real world, you’re forced back into legacy banking rails.

The result is that stablecoins often remain savings balances or trading tools instead of becoming true everyday money.

Rain changes that.

Connect your stablecoins to Visa’s global network

Spending stablecoins is such a cumbersome process because historically, stablecoin rails and traditional payment networks have operated separately. Rain brings them together.  

As a Visa Principal Member, Rain-issued cards can be used at over 150 million merchant locations in more than 150 countries.

With Rain-powered card programs, users link their onchain wallet, and we handle the rest. Cardholders can tap, swipe, or check out online just like they would with any other payment card, all while using their stablecoin balances.

Here’s how that same coffee purchase would work using a Rain-powered card:

1. Fund the Rain account by linking a wallet
2. Use the Rain-issued card at checkout
3. Buy the coffee

For users unaccustomed with crypto platforms, Rain also supports fiat onramps. Accounts can be funded with ACH or wire transfers, no crypto knowledge required. In either case, though, the card experience remains familiar and seamless.

Built natively for stablecoins

Not all crypto card programs are designed to make stablecoins truly spendable.

Most crypto cards are actually just fiat cards with rewards paid out in crypto. Others operate like a debit card where crypto holdings are sold for fiat at the point of purchase, creating tax complications down the line. Rain’s programs are different because it’s a credit product, so merchant acceptance is higher and partners take home more on interchange.

For cardholders, this means being able to spend directly from their stablecoin holdings. For partners like exchanges or wallet providers, this means adding in a payments layer that keeps users engaged and on-platform, all while adding a revenue stream.

On the front end, you’d never know stablecoins were involved, but on the back end, things move more efficiently. Rain’s stablecoin-powered infrastructure enables real-time conversion and daily settlement with Visa, even on weekends and holidays, so partners can launch a card program without needing to hold massive reserve balances.

Turning stablecoins into everyday money

Stablecoins have proven their value as digital dollars for settlement and liquidity, but to get to a place of mainstream adoption, they need to be usable

When stablecoins can be spent anywhere Visa is accepted, they move beyond trading desks and treasury workflows and into daily life. They become real money.

If you are building a wallet, exchange, neobank, or financial platform and want to turn stablecoin balances into real-world purchasing power, Rain provides the infrastructure to do it. Let’s talk.

If you work with international suppliers, contractors, or vendors, you know the drill when it comes to settling invoices: send the payment, and wait.

It can take more than five business days for funds to move from payer to payee, slowing down production, straining supplier relationships, and tying up capital.

This isn’t a niche problem, and the stakes are only getting higher. Cross-border spending topped $194 trillion in 2024, and is projected to increase to $320 trillion by 2032.

The economy is changing, and our payment rails need to adapt. As supply chains, labor markets, and commerce become more global, consumers and businesses need infrastructure that will support operations and make payments efficient, cheap, and fast.

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The future is programmable payments with instant settlement

Now picture this: a payment is automatically triggered, initiated, and settled in minutes. Suppliers are paid and production begins the same day. Built‑in payment logic and real‑time settlement come with big upsides for businesses:

• Working capital gets deployed instead of sitting in transit.
• Manual processes are cut out when payment logic is milestone‑based.
• Reconciliation is faster because the status is visible in real-time.
• Supplier relationships are stronger when payments arrive on time, every time.

Real‑time rails are no longer niche. There were 266.2 billion real‑time transactions in 2023, up 42.2% from 2022, a sign that instant movement of funds is becoming standard infrastructure.

What’s powering programmable payments? Stablecoins.

Stablecoins move across decentralized, always-on networks that settle in minutes without the friction of banking hours or cross-border intermediaries. That speed and availability unlock the power of programmable logic and instant confirmation, meaning payments move from initiation to completion in fewer steps.

There is a catch, though. Instant settlement doesn’t guarantee instant spend.

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Instant settlement still isn’t instant spend

Stablecoin‑powered payments remove intermediaries and clear quickly, but they typically require both parties to hold and use crypto. If a supplier needs to off‑ramp to fiat before spending, you just cut one delay to create another.

This is where Rain’s card issuance comes in. With Rain, recipients don’t have to manually convert from stablecoins to fiat or wait on banking windows. Funds can be loaded onto a Rain‑issued card that operates over the Visa network, allowing suppliers to spend immediately at more than 150 million merchant locations worldwide. That means raw materials, freight, fuel, per diem, and incidentals can be paid right away—no separate off‑ramp step required.

When recipients can use funds instantly on the rails they already rely on, stablecoin‑powered B2B payments stop being a workflow change and start being a straightforward upgrade. This is where adoption happens, and it’s happening now.

Rain partnered with Nuvei to launch a comprehensive blockchain‑based payment solution for merchants across Latin America. The solution includes stablecoin payment rails for faster cross-border settlement and integrated Visa-accepted cards for merchants, making the stablecoins instantly usable.
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What Rain brings to the table

Rain was built to power end‑to‑end, instant‑spend B2B flows. It comes in one package, no patchwork-assembly required. Core capabilities include:

• Fiat onramps via ACH, wire, or SWIFT with conversion to stablecoins and funding to an enterprise wallet.
• Wallet infrastructure to store, manage, and access stablecoins
• Programmable cross‑border transfers via API, with real‑time status and rich metadata for audit and reconciliation.
• Integrated compliance (KYC/AML) embedded in the flow.
• Immediate spendability through Rain‑issued physical and virtual cards that your recipients can use anywhere Visa is accepted, reaching more than 150 million merchant locations globally.
• Local‑currency offramps to bank accounts when cash settlement is required.
• Flexible custody models (custodial or non‑custodial) to match recipient preferences and your risk posture.

Because these services live in one stack, there are fewer hand‑offs and fewer friction points.

With Rain, the benefits flow to everyone:

• CFOs gain predictable cash flow and faster closes.
• Supply chain leaders see fewer holds and faster release of goods.
• Finance and compliance teams work from a single source of truth, not a maze of spreadsheets.
• Vendors and contractors get paid and can spend immediately, which improves delivery timelines and satisfaction.

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The bottom line

Slow settlement drains time and goodwill. And without instant spend at the edge, even fast payments can stall real‑world operations.

Rain delivers both: real‑time, programmable cross‑border settlement and immediate spendability with a globally accepted card. If you’re ready to shorten cash cycles, strengthen supplier relationships, and let your money move like water instead of wading through puddles, we should talk.

Today we announced that Rain has raised $250 million in Series C funding at a $1.95 billion valuation.

The round was led by ICONIQ, a first-time investor in Rain. Other new participants include Bessemer Venture Partners and FirstMark. We’re grateful for the continued support of our existing investors: Sapphire Ventures, Dragonfly, Galaxy Ventures, Lightspeed, Norwest, and Endeavor Catalyst.  

Reaching unicorn status is a huge milestone. Don’t get us wrong, we’re thrilled to join this club, but the story here isn’t in vanity metrics. It’s in where we’re going.

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How we got here

2025 was a breakout year for Rain.

We expanded our geographical footprint and platform capabilities, attracting new partners and allowing existing programs to scale.

Annualized payment volume increased by 38x and active card programs grew by 30x. Over 200 partners now trust Rain for global payments, including enterprise players like Western Union.

We made key investments in Rain’s foundation and future this year with the acquisitions of Fern and Uptop.

Fern’s multiplex, its native routing, orchestration, and compliance engine, adds to Rain’s existing infrastructure layer, improving on and offramps and multichain interoperability. Uptop, an onchain loyalty platform, brings rewards in-house, allowing us to better serve partners and deliver a core expectation to cardholders.

We also added support for more blockchains, including Stellar, Solana, and Plasma, making card programs more accessible for partners and attractive to users.

Our goals for 2026 are even more ambitious, and this latest round will support our mission to change how money moves.

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Why we raised  

Our Series A was about scaling our card issuance capabilities globally. We increased geographical coverage and invested in our infrastructure, including launching daily onchain settlement with Visa.

With our Series B, we expanded our suite of services. We began integrating onramps and virtual accounts, embedded wallets, advanced offramps, rewards, and more, to give enterprises a one-stop solution.

But we need to do more. That’s what our Series C is about.

We’ve never seen a fintech company that’s been able to unlock every key market across the globe for its customers. Rain’s goal is to be this company.

This round will help us get there. Expect to see better capabilities, enhanced support and hands-on partnership, more licenses to expand global operations, and products the world has never seen before.

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Why now

It’s our third raise in less than 12 months. Unusual, we know.

But we also know when to read the room. We’re at a once-in-a-generation crossroads: the world is rapidly moving from traditional to onchain payment rails.

In 2025, stablecoins powered $47 trillion in transactions. Most of this was thanks to trading and cross-border B2B payments. The next wave will be stablecoin-powered consumer spending and everyday business transactions.

Tokenized money is the next era of money, and at Rain, we’re building the tools and software that will support this transition.

How do we get to mainstream adoption? Obviously, businesses need an infrastructure partner who can make stablecoin rails accessible. But appealing to the masses demands more than that. The infrastructure can’t just work, it has to be invisible.

Look at WiFi or GPS. These technologies didn’t go mainstream because people learned about data transmission or satellite trilateration; they took off because they removed friction points. When the infrastructure fades into the background, adoption follows.

That’s been Rain’s focus since day one: delivering a product that is more efficient on the backend, but seamless on the frontend.

This funding helps us get there faster. We can’t wait to deliver.

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Connect with us

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

If you want to help build this future, we’re hiring across the board. Explore careers at Rain here.

In an increasingly multichain ecosystem, it’s essential for Rain to continue adapting. Our partners are building across blockchains, and we’re committed to meeting them where they are.

That’s why we’re excited to announce support for Plasma, a Layer 1 purpose-built for global payments.

With this new integration, Rain partners built on Plasma can now launch card programs that give stablecoins real-world spending power. Plasma’s zero-fee USDT transfers make it easy for users to move value instantly and at a low cost.

“Our goal is a more open financial system where stablecoins work in real life,” Paul Faecks, CEO of Plasma, said. “Adding Rain increases the card issuance options available to partners on Plasma.”

Through vertically-integrated infrastructure, Plasma’s mission is to give stablecoins real-world spending power on the payment surfaces people already rely on.

Plasma’s financial products connect traditional banking and payments with stablecoin-native rails. Working with Rain helps partners connect stablecoins on Plasma to everyday purchases.

“Rain is committed to creating financial infrastructure that is more global, open, and efficient,” Charles Yoo-Naut, CTO and Co-founder of Rain said. “A big part of that is quickly developing solutions that meet our partners’ needs.”

Rain takes the process of adding support for new chains seriously. Our protocol engineers design and implement tailor-made smart contracts, and before anything goes live, outside auditors make sure everything is running smoothly. We continue with regular audits to maintain security and trust.

Rain is the only Visa Principal Member that allows partners to launch and manage programs across multiple blockchains simultaneously, simplifying the process of issuing global cards that can be used at more than 150 million merchants.

Plasma’s integration on the Rain platform follows rising demand from partners looking to expand card access across ecosystems.

Klutch is reshaping what a credit card can do. Through automation, programmable tools, and customizable “Mini Apps,” the user experience is transformed. And thanks to Rain, these features run seamlessly on modern infrastructure, remaining entirely behind the scenes of the user experience.

We sat down with Renato Steinberg, Klutch’s founder and CEO, to talk about the importance of simplicity, how automation became a superpower, and why Klutch users don’t have to engage with what’s happening onchain.

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Tell us about Klutch and the vision behind it.

Renato: Klutch started with a simple question: why hasn’t the credit card evolved? We designed Klutch to rethink the card experience entirely. The easiest way to explain Klutch is we’re doing to the credit card what the App Store did to the iPhone.

With Klutch, users can add “Mini Apps” to their card the same way they’d add apps to a phone. These Mini Apps are small automations and tools that make the card smarter over time. They help people manage subscriptions, set spending rules, handle child allowances, sync to Google Sheets, reimburse FSA purchases, and more. Every month, the card gets a new capability.

For us, it’s about giving people a single card that finally reflects how they actually live and spend.
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What inspired you to build a programmable card with automations?

Renato: Honestly, it came from my own life. I had young kids, tons of subscriptions, several budgets, and I was trying to use different services to automate everything. That meant juggling around 20 different cards at once. It made no sense. So we asked: what if one card did it all? What if your bank app came with the tools you wish existed? Klutch was built to solve that exact problem. One card, all the functionality.‍

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How are people using Klutch today?

Renato: It ranges widely. Some people use Klutch for simple controls, like limiting spend at a specific merchant or canceling subscriptions easily. Others use virtual cards, child allowance tools, or automated budgeting. Then you have power users, especially developers, who use our API to build fully automated money workflows. They automate everything from the moment a paycheck lands to how their monthly spending is categorized and tracked.

Klutch can be as simple or as programmable as users want it to be.

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Klutch seems to appeal to niche communities. Why does that work?

Renato: Mini Apps make it easy to build for specific groups without creating an entire new card product. Traditional issuers can’t justify a bespoke card for a small but passionate community. With Klutch and Rain, the marginal cost of adding a Mini App is tiny.

For example, we launched a carbon-offset Mini App for eco-conscious users — something too small to justify a standalone card, but perfect as an add-on.This approach lets us serve more communities with tools that actually fit their lifestyles.
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How does Rain support the card experience Klutch delivers?

Renato: Working with Rain is completely different from working with a traditional bank. The team moves quickly, operates transparently, and supported us through the Visa approval and compliance process, making it far smoother than my past experiences.

Their flexibility really matters. Many of our Mini Apps depend on being able to influence the authorization flow, like declining a transaction based on a user’s rule. Traditional banks and processors typically don’t allow that. Rain does.

That capability unlocked a lot of what we built.
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‍From your perspective, how visible is Rain’s stablecoin infrastructure?

Renato: Not visible in the user experience. From our perspective and from our users’ perspective, everything is completely fiat-based. The card feels like a traditional credit card. Users don’t need to understand or think about stablecoins or onchain systems.

Rain handles all of that behind the scenes. We don’t interact with it directly, and users don’t need to know it’s there. They just get a clean, modern card experience.

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How do you approach user safety?

Renato: Klutch offers additional security controls compared to many traditional cards. We let users generate multiple card numbers, create single-use or merchant-locked cards, and set granular controls. If one number gets compromised, everything else is still protected.

Our systems are modern. No outdated rails. And Rain offers a secure, modern issuing foundation to match. The combination gives users more control and more confidence.

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Where is Klutch headed next?

Renato: The Mini App model can go far beyond credit cards. You can apply it to checking accounts, banking tools, and even blockchain-enabled financial applications.

We see Klutch becoming a platform where others can build financial apps on top of us, without the friction of legacy banking systems.

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Rain’s Takeaway: Users Should Never Have to Touch the Plumbing

Klutch shows what’s possible when onchain infrastructure stays where it belongs: out of sight.

• Klutch offers a personalized, intuitive, fiat-based card experience.
• Rain quietly powers the issuing, settlement, and authorization rails, including the stablecoin magic.
• Users get simplicity. Klutch gets flexibility. Rain handles the complexity.

Exactly how it should be.

Like so many other emerging technologies, stablecoin adoption appears to be following an S-curve, characterized by three phases: slow initial adoption, a rapid acceleration period, and finally, maturation. At Rain, we believe we’re in the early days of this middle stage.

The total market capitalization for stablecoins grew by roughly $100 billion in 2025, now exceeding $300 billion for the first time in history. As the infrastructure improves, institutional adoption increases, and real-world use cases become more clear, the stablecoin market is poised for major disruption in 2026.

Here are our top predictions for the year ahead:

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1. Real-world stablecoin payments will exceed trading volume

2025 saw an increase in stablecoin usage for retail spending and B2B payments, but data shows that consumer transactions still make up a relatively small portion of total stablecoin volume. That will change in 2026.

Today, stablecoins are the largest driver of onchain liquidity, but next year, we expect they will no longer be used simply to trade other crypto assets. On the enterprise side, businesses will increasingly look to stablecoins as an operational tool as opposed to just balance sheet exposure.

Legacy rails force treasury teams to hold excess buffers, pre-fund accounts, and accept delayed settlement, particularly when it comes to cross-border payments. Stablecoins offer a different model: continuous settlement rather than batch-based with real-time visibility. Treasury teams can centralize liquidity instead of fragmenting cash across multinational accounts.

In 2026, more than half of stablecoin transaction volume will originate from payments, treasury flows, and consumer spending.

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2. “Chain agnostic” will become the baseline expectation

As stablecoins become the standard for payments and settlement, interoperability will be a top concern for users.

Mobile phone networks are a good parallel: in the early days of cell phones, users were locked into a single carrier, forcing them to pay high roaming fees and deal with spotty coverage. Over time, compatibility won. Today, our phones work all over the world and we don’t give it a second thought.

Stablecoins must follow a similar path in order for adoption to accelerate, and that’s why Rain acquired Fern this year. Fern’s cross-chain routing engine, known as the Multiplex, will underscore Rain’s future cross-chain bridging capabilities, improving liquidity and allowing companies to more easily move between fiat and crypto.

In 2026, the industry-wide expectation will be that stablecoins can move across chains and rails seamlessly. Platforms that lock value into one chain will face challenges scaling.

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3. Stablecoin-powered consumer cards will become a standard offering

It isn’t consumer demand driving stablecoin-powered card growth, it’s brands looking for more efficient payment infrastructure. Traditional card programs are capital intensive and come with high prefunding requirements and fragmented liquidity.

Rain’s onchain solution offers faster settling and better liquidity, providing partners with a radically more capital efficient option.  

Marketplaces, creator platforms, fintech apps, exchanges, and global consumer brands can all embed payments without building complex banking stacks or managing dozens of regional accounts, or without their users knowing stablecoins are involved at all.

In 2026, consumer card programs that draw on stablecoin-backed balances will become a default offering across fintechs, exchanges, creator platforms, and global apps.

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4. More value will stay onchain, making off-ramps less important

As stablecoins increasingly function as global digital dollars, the need to constantly convert back to fiat currencies declines.

When payments, payrolls, remittances, and settlement can happen outside of traditional bank rails, users are less dependent on cashing out. As use cases expand and stablecoin adoption increases, offramps are less critical.

At Rain, our focus is on turning onchain value into everyday spend, allowing users and businesses to operate directly from stablecoin balances. As more value circulates within these ecosystems, off-ramps become less central to payment flows and more of a supporting function.

In 2026, stablecoin off-ramps will become less central to stablecoin-powered payment flows.

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5. Agentic payments are going to turn to stablecoins

Agentic payments, transactions initiated and executed by AI agents, are already using stablecoins, and we expect this trend to continue next year.

As AI agents take on more responsibility managing business operations like supply chains and treasuries, stablecoins will be the logical choice as the settlement layer. Fiat money is embedded in systems designed around human constraints. Stablecoins provide an alternative, allowing agents to engage in financial transactions without sacrificing security.

In 2026, stablecoins will become the preferred medium of exchange for agentic payments.

If 2025 was characterized as the year stablecoins scaled, 2026 will be the year they prove their utility. Stablecoins will move from an emerging asset class to foundational financial infrastructure, and the acceleration phase is already underway.

Rain co-founders Farooq Malik and Charles Yoo-Naut joined Latitude Capital founder and long-time investor Ansaf Kareem on the Escape Velocity podcast to talk about why money is getting tokenized, how Rain is rebuilding payment rails from first principles, and what this shift means for companies building global products.

You can listen to and watch the full episode here.

From Rain’s early bet on stablecoin-backed cards to today’s full-stack platform for accounts, cards, and payouts, the conversation zooms out on how to make onchain dollars usable for real-world businesses at scale. Below are five key takeaways from their discussion:

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1. Money is getting tokenized and every system has to catch up

Farooq puts it simply: money is moving onchain, and that means every system that moves, holds, or touches money will need to be upgraded. That includes banking cores, SWIFT terminals, and the countless internal tools enterprises use to run payouts and treasury.

For founders and enterprises, the opportunity is about both cheaper payments and always-on, programmable money.

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2. Stablecoins are the primary rail, not an add-on

Rain was built stablecoin-first. Transactions post onchain 24/7, and Rain then connects that settlement layer into Visa, banks, and local payout networks.

For customers, the UX feels familiar—swiping a card, seeing an account balance, receiving a payout—while the underlying rails are global, instant, and programmable.

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3. One global platform instead of a patchwork of local partners

Before Rain, “going global” meant stitching together different banks, processors, and card programs market by market, each with its own contracts, fees, and technical quirks. Many teams never tried, because the integration and maintenance burden was too high.

Rain replaces this patchwork with a single API and a single global partner. Companies can embed dollar accounts and cards for users in dozens of countries with the same look, feel, and unit economics, without rebuilding their payments stack in every market.

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4. Turning payout cost centers into profit centers

One of the biggest near-term opportunities is payouts: insurance claims, creator payouts, marketplace disbursements, royalties, vendor payments, and more. Today, these flows are slow, expensive, and often treated purely as a cost of doing business.

By settling in stablecoins and issuing card- or account-based access to those funds, Rain helps companies move from “mailing checks and waiting days” to instant, programmable payouts that can actually generate margin and improve customer experience.

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5. Building for the next wave of enterprise adoption

Farooq and Charles are clear that we’re still early. Regulation is moving in a more constructive direction, and stablecoin supply has already grown meaningfully.

Rain’s focus now is on being the infrastructure partner that helps those enterprises upgrade: giving them compliant, stablecoin-native rails for accounts, cards, and payouts, so they can serve a global customer base without a global rebuild.

If you’re building a neobank, wallet, exchange, payroll product, or any platform that moves money across borders, the episode is a deep dive into how Rain thinks about the future of payment rails and how stablecoins are reshaping what “global by default” can look like.

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.

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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.

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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.

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Get to know the multiplex
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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.

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The team behind 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.

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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.

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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.

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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.
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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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:

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.
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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.

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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.

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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:

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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‘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.”

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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.

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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.

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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.