Stablecoin startups move into payments as Rain raises $338 million and Verda backs two dozen companies

Stablecoins are no longer just a crypto side plot. Startups like Rain and MassPay are building payment infrastructure around them, while investors are putting real capital behind the idea that digital dollars can sit in the middle of ordinary payments flows. For PSPs and acquirers, the important part is simple: these companies are not trying to “add crypto” to payments; they are trying to replace pieces of the stack.

1. Fintech founders are using stablecoins to break into payments and push digital modernization, either by incorporating stablecoins into existing rails or bypassing older ones altogether. MassPay and Rain are among the startups taking that route, while traditional players such as Visa and Fiserv have also moved toward the trend, even if their legacy infrastructure makes adaptation harder.
2. Verda Ventures General Partner Alex Witt said the fund’s premise is that “sending payments should be as easy, fast, and cheap as sending a text message.” Witt and his business partner, Amit Chu, launched the fund two years ago to invest in stablecoin startups, and it has since raised $40 million. The fund has taken minority stakes in about two dozen companies globally, according to Witt.
3. Witt said the fundraising environment changed sharply from 2024, when some people thought he was “completely crazy.” Verda’s portfolio includes Yellow Card, a payments-focused fintech in Africa, and Capa, a blockchain infrastructure services company operating in Latin America. Two other portfolio companies, Kulipa and Beam, have already been sold.
4. Stripe is also circling another possible purchase from the sector, Witt said, though he declined to name the target. That matters because it shows stablecoin infrastructure is not just attracting startups and venture capital; it is also becoming an acquisition hunting ground for established payments companies.
5. Rain, whose holding company is Signify, has collected about $338 million in equity investments, according to a company spokesperson. Investors include Iconiq Capital, Sapphire Ventures, and Coinbase’s former chief technology officer Balaji Srinivasan, with a quarter of a billion dollars raised in the most recent round disclosed in January.

Rain provides stablecoin infrastructure that lets corporate customers bridge stablecoin payments so money can move from digital assets to traditional payment rails. In practice, that means corporate clients can embed the technology into consumer-facing services and make stablecoins less visible to users — which is exactly the sort of plumbing PSPs, processors, and sponsor banks need to watch closely.

Rain’s early clients were crypto firms, fintechs, and neobanks, including in countries such as Argentina, where digital assets can serve as a hedge against inflation. The company later started attracting larger names, including remittance provider Western Union as its first major client.