Building Stablecoin Cards That Work at 150M Merchants: Visa + Rain's Strategy

In this episode of Stableminded, Drew sits down with Farooq Malik, CEO and Co-founder of Rain, and Cuy Sheffield, Head of Crypto at Visa, to explore how their partnership is transforming global payments through stablecoin settlement.

With Rain processing the first automated 7-day-a-week settlements with Visa—including last Sunday and Saturday—this conversation reveals how stablecoins are solving the "bank holiday problem"that has plagued traditional finance for decades.

Farooq and Cuy share:
- How Rain authorizes stablecoin transactions in 200 milliseconds across a dozen blockchains while maintaining Visa's security standards
- Why Visa is positioning itself as "a layer two on top of stablecoins"rather than competing with them
- Real examples of dollar cards becoming top-of-wallet products in Latin America for everyday purchases like coffee, groceries, and Disneyland
- The first closed-loop stablecoin transactions happening through Visa's network (issuer → Visa → merchant → user)
- How stablecoins are replacing cash payments and expensive kiosk payouts in emerging markets
- Visa's evolution from 2D (currency exchange) to 4D treasury management (currency + format + stablecoin + blockchain)
- Why multi-chain, multi-stablecoin support (USDC, USDG on Ethereum, Stellar, Avalanche) is critical for the future

Whether you're building fintech products, managing treasury operations, or interested in how global payments are evolving beyond bank holidays and wire cutoff times, this episode delivers crucial insights into the infrastructure enabling 24/7 money movement at internet speed.


This season is powered by Rain

Rain helps financial teams build and manage stablecoin-powered card programs with a single API. Issue branded cards and unlock new revenue while enabling users to move, store, and spend stablecoins instantly and compliantly in over 150 countries.

Learn more at rain.xyz

The content of this podcast is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial, investment or legal advice.