Rain Partners with Mastercard
Hey FinTech Fanatic!
FinTech company Rain reached a $1.95 billion valuation and is set to launch cards with Mastercard.
The startup helps its clients launch cards backed by users’ stablecoin deposits, among other services. Rain, for example, works with neobanks that want to let their customers use their crypto deposits, instead of U.S. dollars, to settle charges on their credit cards.
The FinTech previously worked only with Visa, so this move gives it access to a broader set of institutional clients.
Rain’s partnership with Mastercard comes as legacy tech and finance companies increasingly integrate stablecoins into their payments capabilities, especially after President Donald Trump signed into law in July the Genius Act, the legislation that established regulatory guidelines for stablecoins.
Meta last week began offering stablecoin payouts to creators in Colombia and the Philippines. Shopify has also partnered with Coinbase and Stripe to enable these digital dollar payments, while SpaceX is using them in its treasury operations.
Stablecoins are increasingly becoming part of the financial stack, and we’ll keep tracking where the trend goes next.
See what else is happening in FinTech today. 👇See you tomorrow!
Cheers,
POST OF THE DAY
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Breaking down the types of cards in payments👇
#FINTECHREPORT
📊 Blue Dot Investors and FT Partners Report. Blue Dot Investors and FT Partners released a report highlighting a coming “FinTech liquidity supercycle,” driven by IPOs, M&A, and secondary markets. The analysis shows private FinTechs now outpacing public peers in revenue and scale, signalling a more mature and institutionalized phase for the sector. Read the full report here
INSIGHTS
📰 Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) by DashDevs. Written by Artur Nesterenko, the piece explains that CBDCs are state-issued digital currencies designed to function as regulated digital cash or settlement infrastructure. It outlines their key use cases, differences from stablecoins and bank money, and the strategic trade-offs, highlighting their growing relevance as a foundational layer for payments, wallets, and financial infrastructure.
FINTECH NEWS
🇦🇪 Sarwa reaches $1 billion in client assets, marking a turning point for retail investing in MENA. With the GCC FinTech sector projected to grow at a 15% CAGR through 2030, Sarwa’s milestone highlights how retail demand and institutional-grade infrastructure are converging to redefine investing in the region.
🇳🇬 Casha Technologies launches Casha Microfinance Bank in Nigeria with CBN License. According to a statement by the Head of Corporate Services, Ginika Okonkwo, the expansion reinforced the company’s commitment to advancing financial inclusion and supporting Nigeria’s dynamic digital economy.
Q&A
📰 Mastering payments in APAC. Brian Sze, APAC General Manager at Checkout.com, spoke with Arthur Bedel about the company’s rapid expansion across key Asian markets and the shift toward AI-driven, agentic commerce. The discussion highlights how APAC’s fragmented payments landscape is accelerating innovation at the intersection of digital payments and intelligent transactions.
PAYMENTS NEWS
🇧🇷 Pix will have a maximum limit of R$ 200 after a change announced by the Central Bank to combat fraud. Transfers from unrecognised devices will be temporarily limited, while banks like Nubank, Itaú Unibanco, and Caixa Econômica Federal can now apply precautionary blocks on suspicious transactions for up to 72 hours.
🇧🇷 Brazil's central bank bans stablecoin and crypto settlement in cross-border payments. The ban applies to FinTechs and payment firms, closing the back-end payment rail for cross-border flows, but individual crypto investors can still buy and hold assets.
🇺🇸 Tether posts $1.04 billion Q1 profit, reaches $8.23 billion reserve buffer. The issuer of the USDT stablecoin said its total assets are just under $192 billion against liabilities of slightly more than $183.5 billion, with most reserves in U.S. government-backed instruments.
🇿🇦 Stitch adds BNPL to payments platform. BNPL allows customers to split payments into two to six instalments, with the repayment schedule chosen at checkout. Merchants receive full payment within 24 hours of a transaction, rather than waiting for instalment repayments to complete over time.
🇺🇸 Western Union selects Fireblocks to power its first stablecoin, USDPT. Fireblocks will provide the wallet, settlement, and financial operations infrastructure for Western Union's digital dollar, extending access and creating the foundation for a broader set of financial services to consumers in the Philippines and Bolivia, with global rollout planned through 2026. Additionally, USDPT has been rolled out on Solana. The stablecoin is designed to operate within real‑world payment systems, combining blockchain‑based settlement with Western Union’s global compliance, risk and distribution capabilities.
DIGITAL BANKING NEWS
🇪🇸 Trade Republic is considering launching its app in Catalan. The German neobank, which has more than 400,000 customers in Catalonia (20% of its total), has received an official request from the Catalan government to include Catalan in its app and is evaluating the proposal.
🇭🇰 Ant Group digital bank adds stock trading to AlipayHK. The feature allows users to buy Hong Kong and US shares and ETFs. The service also covers warrants and callable contracts through the app’s wealth section with zero commission for Hong Kong stocks and no custody fees.
🇵🇹 Revolut surpasses €600 million in deposits in Portugal and launches joint savings accounts and a program for young people. The expansion of two savings products in the country reinforces Revolut's strategy of consolidating its position as the primary bank account for families, focusing on products that meet the needs of daily financial life.
🌍 Revolut's number of customers has increased from 50 million to 70 million, and counting. The company added 16 million users in 2025 alone and is targeting 100 million customers by mid-2027, alongside continued revenue and profitability growth.
🇺🇸 Blend launches Autopilot MCP Server, opening its lending platform to FI-built AI agents. For lenders and partners, Autopilot MCP opens a new category of possibility: the ability to build and deploy AI agents tailored to their workflows, guidelines, and borrower experiences, without rebuilding the underlying infrastructure.
BLOCKCHAIN/CRYPTO NEWS
🇺🇸 Coinbase said a key compromise has been reached on U.S. stablecoin legislation, potentially clearing the way for progress in the Senate. The agreement introduces tighter limits on reward programs to address concerns from banks, while still allowing crypto platforms to offer incentives tied to user activity, as policymakers work toward clearer regulations for the industry.
🇨🇦 Tetra Digital Group launches CADD, Canada’s first CAD-backed stablecoin issued by a financial institution. This marks a national first for digital asset infrastructure in Canada by enabling Canadian dollars to move on blockchain rails under a financial services regulatory framework.
🇫🇷 Circle France receives approval to offer crypto-asset services under MiCA. This approval enables Circle France to offer custody and transfer services for crypto-assets related to the stablecoins it issues, USDC and EURC. As a result, Circle France can now provide these services to customers across the European Economic Area.
PARTNERSHIPS
🇦🇪 Botim money and Mastercard expand multi-year agreement to broaden eligibility for digital card payments in the UAE. botim money cards are available without a minimum salary threshold, widening eligibility across the UAE’s diverse resident base and supporting everyday payment access for more users, while keeping the programme aligned with standard service practices.
🇺🇸 Stablecoin startup Rain is worth $1.95 billion and plans to issue Mastercard cards to woo institutional customers. Rain said it was working with Mastercard to explore how to settle payments with the public company using stablecoins, or cryptocurrencies pegged to real-world assets like the U.S. dollar.
🇦🇪 Telr launches Google Pay, enabling faster, seamless, and secure payments for all Telr merchants. Built for speed and designed for trust, Google Pay enables customers to complete transactions instantly using cards securely stored in their Google Wallet, eliminating the need to re-enter payment details. It delivers a faster, smoother payment experience.
🇺🇸 iCapital taps Anthropic for AI client tools. The company is integrating Anthropic’s Claude models as part of broader efforts to strengthen platform tools used by advisers, product providers and their clients across the investment lifecycle, covering education, workflows and insights.
DONEDEAL FUNDING NEWS
💰Over the last week, there were six FinTech deals in Europe, totaling €48.5m in disclosed funding, including one transaction in the UK, one in Italy, one in Spain, one in Denmark, one in Germany and one in Czechia.
🇮🇹 A-Cube lands €4M to accelerate global expansion. With the new funding, the company intends to further develop its platform and support organizations in navigating the transition towards more automated, real-time, and interconnected tax systems
🇵🇹 Ekiden raises €1.7 million at €17 million valuation for blockchain-based trading platform out of Portugal. The capital will be used for audits, product development, team expansion, and strategic partnerships aimed at scaling liquidity. Continue reading
M&A
🇫🇷 Worldline completes divestment of Electronic Data Management to SIX. This operation marks another step in the Group’s strategic refocus on core European synergistic payment activities, enabling Worldline to simplify operations and optimize resource allocation, in line with its North Star transformation plan.
🇺🇸 Payward Completes acquisition of Bitnomial. Through Payward Services, the acquisition opens a new channel for partners, including FinTechs, banks, brokerages, and payment providers, to offer regulated U.S. derivatives to their own end clients via a single integration, alongside existing capabilities across crypto trading, tokenized equities, staking, and on/off-ramps.
🇨🇦 Francisco Partners is in talks to buy payments company Moneris from its owners, Royal Bank of Canada and Bank of Montreal, in a deal that could value the business at up to $2 billion. The potential sale reflects a broader trend of banks exiting merchant payments as FinTech players reshape the industry.
🇺🇸 AI-driven Long Lake agrees to take Amex GBT off market in $6.3bn deal. Backed by General Catalyst and Alpa Wave, the acquisition aims to accelerate AI-driven innovation in business travel, while American Express will exit its stake but retain brand licensing.
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