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

Rain, a stablecoin infrastructure startup, is now valued at $1.95 billion and has announced a partnership with payment giant Mastercard to issue credit and prepaid cards and explore stablecoin payment settlement pathways. Previously, Rain primarily relied on the Visa network for card issuance; this partnership with Mastercard signifies its entry into a "dual-card network" strategy, further expanding its institutional client market. Rain stated that this collaboration will focus on serving large institutional clients already deeply integrated with a single payment network, enabling them to introduce stablecoin settlement capabilities without altering their existing payment systems. Meanwhile, stablecoin applications continue to expand across industries, with institutions such as Stripe and Coinbase promoting the integration of stablecoin payments and settlements, indicating an accelerating convergence of traditional finance and crypto payment infrastructure. Analysts believe that as the regulatory framework becomes clearer, stablecoins are rapidly transforming from trading tools into enterprise payment and cross-border settlement infrastructure. (Fortune)