Rain, a leading fintech company, recently announced its inclusion in Visa's stablecoin settlement pilot program, marking a significant advancement in the fintech and digital payments landscape. By fully tokenizing its credit card receivables and settling transactions with Visa in USDC, Rain is able to operate its services 365 days a year, seven days a week.
"By participating in Visa’s USDC settlement program, we are now able to conduct settlement 7 days a week, 365 days a year, operating outside of traditional banking hours. USDC settlement allows us to be more capital efficient – helping to reduce the need for collateral while providing our counterparties the same level of protection. This sets a new standard for issuers and further enhances digital asset utility," said Farooq Malik, CEO and Co-founder of Rain.
This new settlement system is powered by Rain’s innovative backend infrastructure, which includes APIs, compliance layers, and settlement logic that support fintechs and digital wallets in launching stablecoin-backed card programs. As the demand for real-time global payment solutions increases, Rain is experiencing heightened interest from partners eager to issue onchain cards and settle via stablecoins.
"Moving money across borders has always been complex, but blockchain technology and stablecoins are helping change that,” stated Rubail Birwadker, Head of Growth Products and Partnerships at Visa. “Our work with Rain to help bring payments onchain and enable seven-day settlement is a big step toward helping to simplify global payments."
Rain's proprietary settlement technology not only enhances payment efficiencies but also allows for interoperability with various blockchains, enabling seamless transactions across platforms. Consumers using Rain-issued Visa cards will benefit from rapid payment processing while merchants receive their payments in a timely manner.
In addition to improving consumer payment experiences, Rain has achieved a pioneering feat in the fintech space—creating a closed-loop credit card receivable financing system using stablecoins. This innovation allows Rain to collaborate with a network of capital partners to borrow stablecoins, thus facilitating necessary network settlement for credit card receivables. According to Rain, these measures lead to reduced costs of capital for their credit programs while providing lenders access to enhanced collateral tied to programmatic repayments enforced by smart contracts.
Rain's capabilities may significantly impact users in underdeveloped financial markets, paving the way for broader access to credit. Malik expressed optimism regarding these developments, emphasizing that Rain's advancements could unlock considerable operational efficiencies: "This powerful construct has the potential to unlock credit access for users in underdeveloped financial markets, all while unlocking significant operational and capital efficiencies for Rain and Rain powered programs."
As a Visa principal member, Rain connects consumers to a vast network of payment solutions, accepted at over 150 million merchant locations worldwide. By leveraging stablecoins for automated daily settlements within the Visa network, the company is reinforcing its commitment to integrating blockchain technology into conventional financial systems.
Looking ahead, Rain is eager to explore and expand the utility of stablecoins. Its asset-agnostic settlement stack and blockchain permissioning capabilities further enhance the vision of having an entirely onchain credit system. This vision aims not only at operational efficiency but also at increased transparency and reduced fraud within financial transactions.
Rain's ongoing projects signal a substantial shift in the financial ecosystem, aiming to make digital assets seamlessly integrated and accessible for everyday transactions. The collaboration with Visa is just the tip of the iceberg, showcasing how traditional and digital financial systems can work hand in hand to deliver innovative solutions for global payments.