Stablecoin payments startup Rain has significantly expanded its payment infrastructure by joining Mastercard as a Principal Member. According to an announcement on Monday, this partnership enables Rain to issue both stablecoin-powered credit and prepaid cards on Mastercard's network, which is the second-largest global payment network.
The move builds on Rain's preexisting relationship with Visa, the world's largest payments network. The company stated that its infrastructure was "purpose-built for stablecoin card programs, not retrofitted from a fiat model," allowing programs to expand across geographies through a single integration. Rain highlighted that Mastercard Partners "get to market faster, and scaling after launch is simpler," noting the network is accepted by hundreds of millions of merchants across over 210 countries and regions.
This development is part of Mastercard's broader stablecoin strategy, which includes acquiring infrastructure firm BVNK and launching its Crypto Partner Program to facilitate collaboration with over 85 crypto-native companies. Beyond card issuance, Rain indicated it will explore settling select program flows onchain using regulated stablecoins, a move that addresses capital-intensive and operationally constraining settlement processes.
Rain's expansion comes on the heels of significant financial backing. In January, the company disclosed a $250 million Series C funding round at a $1.95 billion valuation, providing the capital needed to scale its stablecoin card infrastructure and pursue partnerships like the one with Mastercard.
The partnership places Rain at the center of a growing trend where stablecoins move beyond crypto trading to support settlement, treasury movement, merchant payments, and card-linked spending. By connecting both Visa and Mastercard networks with on-chain settlement operations, Rain's Stablecoin Card strategy is becoming a central piece of global payment infrastructure, competing with initiatives from firms like Stripe and Coinbase.
