TL;DR:
Payment infrastructure startup Rain has formalized its partnership with Mastercard to launch stablecoin-linked credit and prepaid cards. This alliance marks a milestone in the growth strategy of the company, which until now operated exclusively under the Visa network.
Rain is now a @Mastercard Principal Member.
That means greater choice for our partners, backed by the same stablecoin-powered authorization and settlement technology under the hood. Partners will be able to offer cards that work everywhere Mastercard is accepted across 210+… pic.twitter.com/Fxm4QIkXjk
— Rain (@raincards) May 4, 2026
Fortune highlights in its report that the company achieved a valuation of $1.95 billion after receiving a $250 million capital injection earlier this year. Official documentation of the agreement indicates that the primary objective is to make it easier for financial institutions to use stablecoin deposits to settle daily transactions without the need for manual conversions to fiat currency.
The firm’s co-founder and CEO, Farooq Malik, stated that the alliance with Mastercard is projected as a solution for large corporations that already have long-term contractual relationships with this payment network. Management revealed that some entities interested in digital asset innovation were previously unable to adopt these tools due to prior commitments with specific network providers.
This deployment occurs within a transformed regulatory context. The implementation of the U.S. National Innovation for Stablecoins Act (GENIUS Act), signed in July 2025, established guidelines for issuers of these assets to operate under compliance standards similar to traditional banking. Under this framework, stablecoins are projected to evolve from simple exchange instruments into settlement infrastructure for the business sector.
The marriage between Rain and the Mastercard network coincides with other major alliances in the industry. In March 2026, Mastercard announced the acquisition of the firm BVNK for an amount close to $1.8 billion, reinforcing its interest in “on-chain” payment rails. On the other hand, competition is intensifying following Stripe’s acquisition of Bridge, completed in February 2025 for $1.1 billion.
Current trends show that tech giants like Meta and Shopify also began integrating stablecoin payment options in specific markets during the first quarter of 2026. For Rain, support from the world’s two largest card networks could allow it to scale its customer base, which, according to internal company data, experienced 30x growth in its number of active cards during the previous fiscal year.
By the end of this quarter, the first corporate card pilots under the new alliance are expected to begin distribution in North America and Europe, marking the start of the full interoperability phase between fiat networks and blockchain protocols.
