Rain, a stablecoin-based global card-issuing platform, raised $24.5 million in a funding round co-led by Norwest Venture Partners and existing investor Globivest. This investment will help it boost its crypto credit card offerings. It would certainly change the way users think about using digital currencies for all their day-to-day purchases. So what does all this mean for the everyday crypto user? See how Rain stacks up to competitors such as RedotPay and Mesh.

With businesses eager to adopt seamless crypto payment solutions, this funding round represents an exciting milestone for Rain. The vehicle maker closed on a fresh $110m funding round. Rain has been instrumental in paving the path between the old and new financial world. They use their Visa Principal Membership to focus on stablecoin-enabled cards to strengthen their product offerings. Rain uses its proprietary blockchain infrastructure to further accelerate card issuing. This flexible model is designed to ensure users can easily use their digital dollars at millions of merchants.

We will primarily use the capital infusion to grow Rain’s card issuance operations in Europe. On top of that, we’ll deepen our work stateside and in Latin America. This expansion is key to increasing the utility of stablecoins. While they have incredible promise, using them in day-to-day transactions is challenging because of lack of acceptance and complex conversion methods. Rain’s solution provides a natural offrRamp for stableCoins, solving one of the biggest barriers to mass adoption.

How Rain's Funding Impacts Crypto Visa Card Functionality

Rain’s $110 million funding round has one eye on making crypto Visa cards work a whole lot better. These visual enhancements will dramatically improve the user experience. These improvements are all meant to ensure that spending crypto will be as simple for you as swiping a debit card.

Enhanced Security

Now armed with new capital, Rain can further strengthen the security infrastructure of its platform. And we have robust fraud detection mechanisms, including multi-factor authentication. Our security practices protect users’ funds and their personal information.

New Features and Functionality

This funding will allow Rain to focus on designing and implementing innovative new features into its crypto Visa cards. These could include:

  • Real-time Conversion: Instant conversion of stablecoins to fiat currency at the point of sale.
  • Rewards Programs: Crypto-back rewards or other incentives for using the card.
  • Mobile App Integration: A user-friendly mobile app for managing card settings, tracking transactions, and viewing balances.
  • Spending Insights: Tools to help users track their crypto spending and manage their budgets.

Wider Acceptance

After Asia, Rain is growing next into Europe, the US, and then Latin America. This increase will help to dramatically accelerate acceptance of its crypto Visa cards. An increasing amount of merchants are integrating crypto payment tools. In turn, users can spend their cards wherever Visa is accepted — bringing them the utility they expect and deserve from a practical and convenient payment solution.

Rain vs. RedotPay and Mesh: A Comparative Analysis

Rain’s immediate focus is to launch Visa cards that use stablecoins. While global crypto payment companies such as RedotPay and Mesh continue to innovate crypto payment solutions. Here's a brief comparison:

  • Rain: Specializes in stablecoin-enabled Visa cards, leveraging a Visa Principal Membership and proprietary blockchain infrastructure for expedited issuance. Rain reported significant revenue growth of 15x in the past year and claims to process payments in over 100 countries.
  • RedotPay: A crypto payment platform that enables businesses to accept cryptocurrency payments. RedotPay secured $40 million in funding.
  • Mesh: Develops a web3 payments system for transactions involving crypto assets and merchants' settlement requirements. Mesh raised $82 million in a Series B round led by Paradigm.

Both Rain and RedotPay share a similar vision with us to empower crypto-settled card payments to consumers and businesses around the world. Unlike Mesh, which primarily serves web3 payments use case and merchant settlement. Together, each company is helping bring crypto payments more mainstream and user friendly.

The Future of Crypto Payments

That bigger picture is that the total value moving in and out of different stablecoins now exceeds the total transaction value of Visa and Mastercard combined. Stripe’s recent announcement that it will open its platform to developers and partners is a watershed moment. They now can endorse the acceptance of stablecoins for their merchant clientele. The expanded acceptance of crypto payments in general is cool. With estimated cost savings of just under one percent and instantaneous—or really near-instantaneous—settlement, the prospects for this payment option are promising.

Stablecoins offer a tech ten times better for cross-border payments than old fiat rails. Their unprecedented ability to settle transactions in near-real-time on a shared, global, decentralized, and interoperable ledger makes this a reality. As of mid-May 2024, the total stablecoin supply stands at about $161 billion. At the same time, transaction volumes on the entire stablecoin market have increased about 3.5 times from last year. Merchant adoption of crypto payments is growing fast. As those regulatory frameworks continue to clarify, crypto is going to be an essential part of the financial world both here in the US and globally. Rain’s recent $24 million Series A funding round is a perfect example of this trend. Its efforts to enhance the usability of crypto Visa cards will undoubtedly propel the mass adoption of digital currencies.