Rain has announced the broad rollout of its Visa Membership across the Asia-Pacific region, opening up its regulated card-issuing platform to partners in several of the world’s most digitally active economies. Rain, a global payments company specializing in stablecoin-backed card solutions, enables partners to quickly launch both consumer and corporate credit card programs on a single infrastructure. The first launches under the new expansion are scheduled for the second quarter of 2026, further extending Rain’s footprint and global reach within the payments sector.
Stablecoin-Backed Infrastructure Targets APAC’s Transaction Surge
By bringing its card program platform into APAC, Rain introduces a regulated issuing system for card programs backed by stablecoins. Asia-Pacific emerged as a leading region in 2024, registering over $500 billion in stablecoin transaction volume. This figure places the region second only to North America globally, highlighting its rapidly growing role in digital asset adoption and payments innovation.
The APAC region is a crucial market due to its position as a hub for global remittance activity and digital commerce growth. Rain’s platform aims to address unique regional needs by simplifying program launches and providing regulatory compliance out of the box.
Streamlined Card Programs for Global Partners
Rain’s Visa Membership allows business partners to develop and deploy card programs with a unified back-end, removing the need to coordinate with multiple issuing vendors. The platform supports consumer and corporate cards, enabling seamless expansion. Rain CEO Farooq Malik highlighted market fragmentation as a major challenge. In his view, operating internationally should not require aligning several different infrastructure providers just to issue branded cards worldwide.
Businesses operating internationally should not have to stitch together multiple issuing partners and vendors just to launch a global card program.
Malik also remarked that stablecoins can streamline cross-border money movement and operations behind the scenes, while all partners scale their businesses using a single, unified platform. Cardholders continue to shop as usual at millions of merchants, with stablecoins facilitating settlement without requiring any change in user behavior.
This architecture, according to Rain, allows businesses to modernize payments while customers interact with familiar systems, reducing friction in day-to-day transactions.
The APAC region’s largest remittance corridors, where recipients may need rapid access to funds, are a primary focus. Use cases include instant spendable remittances, allowing people to directly use funds at more than 150 million Visa-accepted locations. This reduces reliance on traditional bank transfers or cash-out services.
For businesses, Rain’s infrastructure also enables streamlined management of corporate treasuries. Export-focused firms can fund workforce cards and program payouts in multiple currencies, with stablecoins supporting the process.
Nischint Sanghavi, Visa’s Crypto Lead for Asia-Pacific, commented on the partnership’s significance for the region. He expressed Visa’s ongoing commitment to working with new partners and expanding access to digital payments as asset types and user needs evolve.
Visa is committed to enabling innovative partners and expanding global access to digital payments.
