Rain Executive Reveals Stablecoin Card Spend Is Growing By Over 100% Year-Over-Year

Key Takeaways:

• Stablecoin card spending has surged more than 100% year over year, signaling growing mainstream adoption.
• Latin America has emerged as a major market for stablecoin-based card payments and crypto-linked financial products.
• Industry leaders say seamless user experience and traditional payment protections will determine mass adoption.

John Timoney, Head of Strategic Partnerships at Rain, reveals that retail spending through stablecoin-linked cards grew roughly 105% to 106% over the past year. Speaking during a panel at the Consensus Miami 2026 conference, Timoney said stablecoin cards could eventually account for double-digit percentages of total card spending in some Latin American Markets.

Stablecoin Payment Infrastructure

The cards allow users to spend stablecoins such as Tether (USDT) and USD Coin (USDC) directly from digital wallets for daily purchases. Rain, a payments infrastructure platform, recently became a Mastercard Principal Member, enabling it to issue prepaid credit cards on the Mastercard network and to explore on-chain settlement flows with Mastercard using regulated stablecoins.

Timoney said Rain is not attempting to replace traditional card networks but instead make stablecoin balances usable through existing merchant infrastructure. He added that spending behavior on stablecoin cards increasingly resembles ordinary card activity, with users making purchases across common retail categories and global merchants.

Latin America Drives Stablecoin Card Adoption

Timoney described Latin America as one of the clearest markets for stablecoin card adoption, with usage expanding across cryptocurrency exchanges, custodial wallets, and self-custody products. In many transactions, merchants still receive fiat currency, helping avoid the volatility and settlement risks associated with direct crypto payments.

Rain also said stablecoin settlement can reduce trapped capital by more than 40% in some card programs by allowing payments to settle outside traditional banking hours, including weekends and holidays.

The Future of Crypto Payments

Executives from Mastercard and Consensys said broader adoption will depend on making blockchain technology invisible to consumers while preserving payment protections such as chargebacks and security guarantees.

However, GoMining CEO Zalan argued that stablecoin infrastructure introduces unnecessary intermediaries and fees into crypto payments, saying users should be able to spend cryptocurrencies directly from self-custodial wallets.