Rain, a stablecoin infrastructure company with a market capitalization of $1.95 billion, is expanding its Visa-based model and adding Mastercard support to incorporate on-chain payments into traditional payment systems.
Stablecoin payments startup Rain, which just secured a $250 million Series C at a valuation of $1.95 billion, issues both credit and prepaid cards, and announced a new partnership with Mastercard to “explore the use of stablecoins for payment settlement” across the card giant’s network.
Partnership with Mastercard moves Rain into dual network phase
Rain previously built its business primarily around Visa, with its infrastructure allowing companies to “launch compliant payment programs through a single provider” and issuing cards where users can use stablecoins anywhere Visa is accepted, while payments to Visa itself are made in on-chain stablecoins.
The partnership with Mastercard moves the company into what it calls a “dual card network,” extending its reach to institutions that are deeply tied to Mastercard’s rails and may have limited flexibility to switch providers.
Rain said the focus of the new deal will be on large institutional customers who are “deeply tied to a single payment network” and will be able to add stablecoin payment functionality “without changing their existing payment systems” by having Rain handle on-chain financial management, transformations and payments behind the scenes.
Stablecoins move from transaction tools to payment mechanisms
The partnership fits into Mastercard’s broader stablecoin push, which already includes acquisitions of infrastructure companies like BVNK and pilots with issuers like Circle and Paxos to use stablecoins as wholesale payment assets within multi-token networks.
Industry insiders point out that Rain’s model (“all customer payments are made in stablecoins, and all payments to Visa are settled in on-chain stablecoins”) is now being extended to Mastercard, turning the card network itself into an interface for blockchain-based payment rails.
At the same time, mainstream companies like Stripe and Coinbase are incorporating stablecoins into their systems. Stripe recently rolled out a “full-stack stablecoin solution” that allows merchants to accept stablecoins and settle with fiat balances. Meanwhile, Coinbase is pushing USDC into commerce, remittances, and on-chain corporate payments.
A recent crypto.news briefing described Rain as seeking to build a “global backbone for stablecoin payments,” citing its role in increasing transaction volumes by 38x and making stablecoin spending feel indistinguishable from traditional card transactions.
Another crypto.news brief highlighted how the company’s platform allows businesses to issue wallets, convert fiat currencies into stablecoins, and make cross-border payments as easily as domestic remittances.
Another crypto.news analysis claims that as regulations become clearer, stablecoins are “rapidly moving from chip transactions on exchanges to a means of payment for corporate payments and cross-border commerce,” and it appears that Reign and Mastercard are now planning to test them at scale.
