Stablecoin payments startup Rain is partnering with Mastercard to expand its card offerings.
According to an announcement on Monday, Rain is now a Mastercard Principal Member, enabling it to offer stablecoin-powered credit and prepaid cards on the second-largest global payment network. The startup also has a preexisting relationship with Visa, the largest payments network worldwide.
"Rain's infrastructure stack was purpose-built for stablecoin card programs, not retrofitted from a fiat model, and allows programs to expand across geographies through a single integration rather than rebuilding market by market," Rain wrote in a statement.
Mastercard Partners “get to market faster, and scaling after launch is simpler,” Rain noted, adding that Mastercard is accepted by hundreds of millions of merchants in over 210 countries and regions.
The move is part of Mastercard’s expanding stablecoin strategy, as it works to acquire infrastructure firm BVNK and roll out its Crypto Partner Program to facilitate collaboration for future product development with over 85 crypto-native companies.
“Beyond card issuance, Rain and Mastercard will explore settling select program flows onchain using regulated stablecoins. This matters because settlement can be capital-intensive and create operational constraints,” Rain wrote.
In January, Rain disclosed a $250 million Series C funding round at a $1.95 billion valuation.
