Farooq Malik, Co-Founder & CEO of Rain | Episode 462

Money is changing faster than most teams can update a roadmap. We sit down with Farooq Malik, Co-Founder and CEO of Rain, to unpack how stablecoins and tokenized dollars are moving from crypto headlines to the hidden plumbing of real payments - powering card programs, cross-border payouts, and embedded finance at enterprise scale.

Farooq breaks down Rain’s vertically integrated stack: pay-ins and payouts across ACH, wires, and Visa; support for dozens of stablecoins on 11 blockchains; and account logic that makes tokenized value feel like a familiar account, not a science project. We dig into a standout use case - a margin-backed credit card where each swipe triggers instant receivable financing in stablecoin - cutting working capital needs by about 80% and transforming the unit economics of card programs. He also shares how one API can issue regulatorily compliant products in multiple markets, letting global platforms pay creators, freelancers, and merchants in “international dollars” without stitching together country-by-country integrations.

We explore the surge in institutional interest fueled by emerging regulatory clarity, the 30x volume growth Rain has seen in the last 12 months, and why broader rules could unlock 10x–100x adoption across the ecosystem. Farooq contrasts Rain’s approach with reseller patchworks, highlighting the benefits of being a principal Visa member and owning the core of the stablecoin stack. Beyond stablecoins, we touch on open banking, the rise of global-first consumer apps, and how nomadic work patterns are forcing finance to follow people, not addresses.

If you lead payments, product, or finance, you’ll leave with a clear view of where tokenized money creates immediate value: better card economics, faster global disbursements, and simpler enterprise integrations.