An trade chief mentioned stablecoin-powered playing cards are shaping as much as be one of many greatest crypto themes of 2026, which search to offer the advantages of blockchain whereas retaining the cost expertise acquainted for shoppers.
“This is likely one of the large themes of 2026: crypto turns into enmeshed extra deeply into how funds stream by the worldwide financial system,“ Haseeb Qureshi, a managing companion at crypto-focused enterprise capital agency Dragonfly, posted to X Friday.
“Stablecoin playing cards are rising like loopy, in every single place on this planet,” the VC added after stablecoin startup Rain raised $250 million in a funding spherical that pushed its valuation to almost $2 billion.
The large funding spherical got here as Rain elevated its lively card base 30-fold and its annualized cost quantity by practically 40 instances in 2025, making it one of many fastest-growing fintech corporations globally.
The platform helps main stablecoins, together with Tether (USDT) and USDC (USDC), throughout a number of blockchain networks, together with Ethereum, Solana, Tron, and Stellar.
Rain is a part of a brand new wave of stablecoin startups integrating blockchain into cost methods for quicker settlement, decrease prices, and larger world attain whereas retaining the expertise seamless for shoppers, Qureshi famous:
“They do not even know that it is crypto below the hood. All they know is that abruptly, they’ll pay individuals and purchase stuff in {dollars}, any time, wherever, and all of it ‘simply works.’”
It comes as Bloomberg Intelligence predicted on Thursday that stablecoin cost flows would improve at an 81% Compounded Annual Development Price to $56.6 trillion by 2030.
Stablecoin playing cards might face restricted use in developed markets
Not everyone seems to be satisfied that stablecoin funds will problem conventional playing cards in developed international locations, nonetheless, with Higher Tomorrow Ventures GP, Sheel Mohnot, stating that stablecoin service provider acceptance lacks a captive viewers, exclusivity, and killer incentives to make a significant change.
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Pantera Capital investor Mason Nystrom opposed Mohnot’s view, highlighting that stablecoin funds present retailers with on the spot payouts, speedy settlement, and chargeback safety:
“Stablecoin rails are coming for your entire fintech stack. Some incumbents will undertake, different[s] can be wholesale changed. Stablecoin checkout can be large.”
Stablecoin regulation is transferring ahead
The passing of the GENIUS Act within the US appeared to spice up regulatory momentum late final 12 months, with Canada and the UK renewing efforts to implement stablecoin frameworks in 2026 or the close to future.
Institutional adoption can be ramping up, with remittance platform Western Union set to launch a stablecoin settlement system on the Solana blockchain within the first half of 2026 alongside a stablecoin card to allow shopper spending in rising markets.
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