Rain receives support from Mastercard to advance on-chain settlement integration, valuation approaches $2 billion

Odaily reported that stablecoin infrastructure startup Rain is now valued at $1.95 billion and has announced a partnership with the payments giant Mastercard to issue credit cards and prepaid cards, as well as explore the use of stablecoins for payment settlements. Previously, Rain mainly relied on the Visa network to launch card products, and this collaboration with Mastercard signals Rain's entry into the "dual card network" phase, further expanding its institutional client market. Rain stated that this partnership will focus on serving large institutional clients that are deeply integrated with a single payment network, enabling them to add stablecoin settlement capabilities without changing their existing payment infrastructure.

Meanwhile, stablecoin applications continue to expand across the industry, with institutions such as Stripe and certain exchanges advancing integration of stablecoin payments and settlements, showing that traditional finance and crypto payment infrastructure are merging at a faster pace. Analysts believe that with the regulatory framework becoming more defined, stablecoins are rapidly shifting from trading tools to core infrastructure for corporate payments and cross-border settlements. (Fortune)