Rain Acquires Uptop to Integrate Onchain Rewards into Stablecoin Platform, Leveraging Avalanche

Rain, an enterprise-grade infrastructure provider for stablecoin-powered payments, has announced its acquisition of Uptop, an onchain rewards platform, following a recent $58 million Series B funding round. This move accelerates Rain's development of a vertically integrated stack that includes on-ramps, wallets, Visa-accepted cards, off-ramps, payouts, and now native rewards, enabling enterprises to launch and scale branded card and wallet programs with a single partner.

Uptop has a proven track record in powering rewards programs for sports teams, such as the Cleveland Cavaliers' Cavs Rewards and Detroit Pistons' Pistons Rewards, where sponsors saw a 21% increase in spend from enrolled members and a 51% boost in Team Shop sales. Beyond sports, Uptop also supports the Empire State Building's Ambassador Program and will expand into retail, entertainment, travel, and dining under Rain's ownership.

Farooq Malik, CEO and Co-founder of Rain, emphasized, "We're building end-to-end, stablecoin-native infrastructure so our clients don't have to stitch it together." John Timoney and Ross Basri, Co-founders of Uptop, highlighted how the integration will scale rewards globally, with Uptop operating as an independent brand under Rain. Future plans include linking Rain-issued cards to Uptop's rewards marketplace for automatic earnings on everyday spending.

Critically, Uptop's onchain architecture runs on Avalanche, enabling low-latency, high-volume loyalty experiences while maintaining a simple user interface. This integration aims to drive consumer adoption and retention in stablecoin-powered programs.