Stablecoin collateralized non deposit cards
Farooq Malik and Charles Naut, co-founders of Rain, on stablecoin-backed credit cards
This design turns a crypto card from a shaky banking product into a cleaner credit product. Instead of taking deposits, holding customer funds, or converting tokens on the customer’s behalf, Rain lets the customer keep control of stablecoins in a self owned smart contract, then extends a card credit line against that collateral. That strips out some of the banking and custody complexity that made earlier crypto card models fragile with banks and regulators.
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The actual workflow is closer to a secured charge card than a crypto checking account. A company deposits USDC into a smart contract it owns, Rain fronts fiat to the merchant when the card is used, then the customer repays by ACH, wire, check, wallet payment, or by authorizing use of posted collateral.
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That structure also matches what crypto native businesses needed after SVB, Silvergate, and Signature. Many had treasury and revenue on chain, but did not want more exposure to bank balance sheet risk or to move funds into a custodial intermediary just to pay for SaaS, travel, and payroll related expenses.
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Strategically, the card is only the wedge. Rain later described itself as building the authorization and settlement stack underneath stablecoin payments, then expanding into issuing infrastructure for partners. The same non deposit, vertically integrated approach now supports broader card programs and platform payouts.
This points toward stablecoin cards becoming infrastructure, not just a niche corporate card. As more payment programs are launched against self custody and stablecoin balances, the winners are likely to be the companies that own authorization, compliance, and network connectivity while staying outside the narrow role of taking deposits like a bank.