Rain: Transforming Stablecoin Infrastructure with a $1.95 Billion Valuation

A 17x valuation increase in 10 months. Three funding rounds in under a year. $3 billion in annualized transactions. When Rain announced its $250 million Series C at a $1.95 billion valuation on January 9, 2026, it didn't just become another crypto unicorn—it validated a thesis that the biggest opportunity in stablecoins isn't speculation but infrastructure.

While the crypto world obsesses over token prices and airdrop mechanics, Rain quietly built the pipes through which stablecoins actually flow into the real economy. The result is a company that processes more volume than most DeFi protocols combined, with partners including Western Union, Nuvei, and over 200 enterprises globally.

From Development Banking to Stablecoin Rails

Rain's origin story reads differently from most crypto startups. Co-founder and CEO Farooq Malik isn't a crypto evangelist—he's a former CIO at the North American Development Bank who spent years in international infrastructure and private equity in frontier markets.

The "aha moment" came in summer 2021 when Malik and co-founder Charles Naut were building fintech tools and got frustrated with slow ACH rails. When Malik saw his first stablecoin transaction settle instantaneously, he recognized the future of money movement.

"Prior to founding Rain, Farooq worked in finance and international development—experiences that directly inspire Rain's mission to radically transform how money moves around the world by rebuilding the underlying financial infrastructure," according to the company.

Naut brings the technical depth needed to architect multi-chain settlement infrastructure, having previously built and scaled fintech systems at several companies, including Playbook HR through its acquisition by Intuit. Together, they launched Rain in 2021 with a clear thesis: stablecoins would become how money moves in the 21st century, but adoption required cards and apps that "just work."

The Funding Velocity That Defied Market Conditions

Rain's fundraising trajectory reveals the scale of institutional appetite for stablecoin infrastructure:

• March 2025: $24.5 million Series A
• August 2025: $58 million Series B led by Sapphire Ventures
• January 2026: $250 million Series C led by ICONIQ

Total funding now exceeds $338 million, with the post-money valuation climbing 17x from March to January. The investor roster reads like a who's who of enterprise infrastructure backers: Sapphire Ventures, Dragonfly, Bessemer Venture Partners, Galaxy Ventures, FirstMark, Lightspeed, Norwest, and Endeavor Catalyst.

What drove this conviction? The numbers speak for themselves. In the last year, Rain's active card base increased 30x and annualized payment volume increased 38x. The platform now facilitates more than $3 billion in annualized transactions for over 200 partners.

"Stablecoins are quickly becoming the way money moves in the 21st century, but adoption by users worldwide requires cards and apps that just work," Malik stated in the funding announcement.

How Rain Actually Works

Rain's competitive moat isn't just being early to stablecoins—it's achieving a status that typically requires being a bank: Visa Principal Member.

This designation allows Rain to issue cards directly that work anywhere Visa is accepted, powering millions of purchases in over 150 countries. Programs built on Rain can reach over 2.5 billion people and power everything from everyday consumer purchases to critical business expenses such as cloud services and digital advertising.

The platform offers an end-to-end solution:

Card Issuance: Companies can launch compliant stablecoin cards through a single API, with built-in KYC, AML, program oversight, and SOC 2 compliance.

Stablecoin Interoperability: Rain handles the complexity of moving between stablecoins and fiat, offering on/offramps that work across jurisdictions.

24/7 Settlement: Unlike traditional card networks that settle in batches, Rain leverages stablecoin rails for continuous settlement, reducing float and improving capital efficiency.

Rewards Infrastructure: Partners can offer rewards programs tied to stablecoin balances, creating new customer engagement mechanisms.

Cross-Border Rails: The platform facilitates payouts across borders without the friction and cost of traditional correspondent banking.

For enterprises, this means working with a single partner instead of assembling a patchwork of banking relationships, card programs, and crypto custody solutions.

The Enterprise Stablecoin Infrastructure Race

Rain's rise coincides with a fundamental shift in how enterprises view stablecoins. As one industry analysis noted: "On the enterprise side, businesses will increasingly look to stablecoins as an operational tool as opposed to just balance sheet exposure."

The market context explains the urgency. Stablecoin circulation passed $310 billion in 2025, with annual transaction volumes exceeding $45 trillion—surpassing Visa's approximately $14 trillion in FY 2025. Stablecoins now account for an estimated $46 trillion in transaction volume, more than 20x the volume of PayPal and close to 3x the volume of Visa.

Competition is intensifying:

Stripe and Bridge: Stripe closed its $1.1 billion acquisition of Bridge Network in February 2025, the largest acquisition in the company's history. Bridge's Open Issuance platform now enables businesses to launch their own stablecoins with just a few lines of code.

Circle's Arc: Circle launched Arc, a blockchain designed for enterprise-grade stablecoin payments, foreign exchange, and capital markets transactions.

Visa-Bridge Partnership: Visa partnered with Bridge to launch a card-issuing product that enables cardholders to use their stablecoin balance for purchases anywhere Visa is accepted.

Rain's differentiation lies in its full-stack approach. While Bridge focuses on developer APIs and Circle on issuance, Rain combines card issuance, compliance infrastructure, and settlement into a single platform.

Regulatory Tailwinds and the GENIUS Act

The timing of Rain's Series C isn't coincidental. The GENIUS Act, enacted in July 2025, created the first comprehensive regulatory framework for stablecoins and permitted payment stablecoin issuers (PPSI).

Full implementation requires federal regulators to finalize rules by July 18, 2026—creating a narrow window where infrastructure players with existing compliance capabilities hold significant advantages.

Rain's built-in compliance stack—including KYC, AML, program oversight, and SOC 2 certification—positions it well for this regulatory transition. Companies building on Rain inherit this compliance infrastructure rather than building it themselves.

"What I think we're going to see is a greater number of more established financial institutions, whether they're banks or nonbank payment companies, getting into this game," according to industry observers. Rain's Series C capital explicitly targets expansion in "key licensed markets across North America, South America, Europe, Asia, and Africa."

The Western Union Partnership and Enterprise Adoption

Perhaps the most telling indicator of Rain's trajectory is its partnership roster. Western Union, one of the world's largest money transfer companies, now uses Rain's technology. So does Nuvei, a major payment processor, and KAST, among over 200 enterprise partners.

These aren't crypto-native startups—they're traditional financial services companies integrating stablecoin rails into existing operations. The pattern suggests stablecoins are transitioning from alternative payment method to embedded infrastructure layer.

"In 2026, stablecoins will shift from being a parallel financial system to becoming a practical funding rail that enhances existing payment infrastructure," according to industry analysis.

For emerging markets, the implications are particularly significant. Traditional banking infrastructure remains fragmented in many regions, but stablecoins can reduce foreign exchange costs by up to 70% and enable instant B2B and remittance payments. Rain's Visa Principal Member status means its cards work in these markets without requiring local banking partnerships.

What $250 Million Buys in Stablecoin Infrastructure

Rain's stated use of proceeds focuses on three areas:

Geographic Expansion: The company will expand its licensed presence across North America, South America, Europe, Asia, and Africa. Stablecoin infrastructure requires jurisdiction-by-jurisdiction licensing, and Rain's capital allows it to accelerate this costly process.

Platform Deepening: Rain plans to enhance its full-stack payments platform, including through strategic acquisitions. In a market where point solutions abound, acquiring complementary capabilities can accelerate the path to a comprehensive offering.

Enterprise Sales: With partners like Western Union already on board, Rain can now pursue larger enterprise deals that require significant implementation resources.

The speed of Rain's fundraising—three rounds in 10 months—suggests investors are racing to build defensible positions before the stablecoin infrastructure market consolidates.

The Stablecoin Story Consumers Never Notice

Malik has described his vision as building infrastructure that users never think about: "Rain's CEO is betting the stablecoin story may be one consumers never notice."

This philosophy differs from much of crypto, where token speculation and community engagement drive adoption. Rain's approach is invisible infrastructure—when someone pays with a card powered by Rain, they don't know or care that stablecoins are involved in settlement.

The same applies to enterprises. A company using Rain for cross-border payouts doesn't need to understand blockchain mechanics—they get faster settlement, lower costs, and global reach through a familiar card-based interface.

This invisibility may be Rain's greatest strategic advantage. As stablecoins become embedded in traditional payment rails, the infrastructure providers that make the technology disappear will capture the most value.

The Infrastructure Premium

Rain's $1.95 billion valuation on $3 billion in annualized volume implies the market is pricing it as infrastructure, not as a fintech processing transactions.

Compare this to Stripe's $1.1 billion acquisition of Bridge, which was described as "the most strategically important transaction since the emergence of crypto." Both deals reflect a thesis that stablecoin infrastructure is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to rebuild global payment rails.

The numbers support the thesis. Stablecoins are projected to capture 5% to 10% of the global cross-border payments market by 2030, translating to $2.1 trillion to $4.2 trillion in value. Infrastructure providers that enable this transition will capture substantial economics.

Rain's Series C positions it as one of the few independent players with the capital and capabilities to compete for this opportunity. Whether through growth, acquisition, or partnership, the company has bought itself a seat at the table for the next phase of stablecoin adoption.

For builders and enterprises evaluating stablecoin infrastructure, Rain's trajectory offers a template: focus on compliance, prioritize enterprise relationships, and make the technology invisible. The biggest stablecoin story may indeed be one that users never notice—and that's exactly the point.