Stablecoin Payment Competition Heats Up as Rain Nears $20 Billion Valuation Igniting Crypto Card 'Payment Stack War'

On January 21st, crypto card infrastructure firm Rain closed a $250 million Series C funding round this month—with a valuation approaching $20 billion—sparking rapid competition in the crypto payments space over how stablecoins are actually used. Data from research firm Artemis shows crypto card payments are expanding at a 106% annualized rate, with annualized transaction volume hitting $18 billion—nearly matching the ~$19 billion in stablecoin peer-to-peer (P2P) transfers. Artemis analyst Patrick Kim forecasts crypto cards will become stablecoins’ top retail payment use case by year-end. Right now, this “payment stack battle” is playing out along three key paths: **First: Full-stack issuance model** Rain and Hong Kong-based Reap—by becoming Visa principal members—integrate end-to-end infrastructure (issuance, settlement, etc.) to bypass traditional banking systems. Rain reports its card user base has grown 30x year-over-year (YoY), payment volume is up 38x, and the platform serves 200+ customers. **Second: Orchestration layer model** Stripe’s $1.1 billion acquisition of Bridge and Zero Hash’s ~$1 billion valuation signal big tech and financial infrastructure firms are betting on blockchain-agnostic solutions. These tools help merchants accept and settle stablecoins without worrying about the underlying blockchain. **Third: Payment-specific blockchain** Some new entrants argue general-purpose blockchains like Ethereum weren’t built for payments. Stable—backed by Bitfinex—launched a payment-focused blockchain in late 2025 with ~$20 billion in pre-staked funds, targeting a stablecoin transfer experience with no extra gas fees. Regionally, emerging markets are the main driver of stablecoin payment growth. Actual payment demand in Africa, Latin America, and South Asia far outpaces that of developed markets. Data shows Visa holds over 90% of on-chain card payment market share—largely because it supports USDC in native stablecoin settlement pilots, whereas USDT hasn’t been added to that system yet.