Founding lessons and mental resilience

This week, Charles Yoo-Naut joins the show to unpack Rain's explosive growth and what's next for crypto payments. We deep dive into the Rain origin story, their recent $250M fundraise, partnering with Visa, who wins the crypto card race, how Rain grew to a $2B company, and more. Enjoy!

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Follow Charles: https://x.com/cnaut

Follow Jason: https://x.com/JasonYanowitz

Follow Empire: https://x.com/theempirepod

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This Empire episode is brought to you by VanEck.

Learn more about the VanEck Onchain Economy ETF (NODE): http://vaneck.com/EmpireNODE

An investment in the Fund involves a substantial risk and is not suitable for all investors. It is possible to lose your entire principal investment. The Fund may invest nearly all of its net assets in either Digital Transformation Companies and/or Digital Asset Instruments. The Fund does not invest in digital assets or commodities directly.

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the Commodity Exchange Act (“CEA”).

Investing involves substantial risk and high volatility, including possible loss of principal. Visit vaneck.com to read and consider the prospectus, containing the investment objective, risks, and fees of the fund, carefully before investing.

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Timestamps:

(00:00) Introduction

(00:52) The Rain Origin Story

(15:23) Partnering With Visa

(30:05) The Opportunity In Emerging Markets

(36:48) Ads (Coinbase, Mantle, VanEck, Uniswap)

(40:16) The Crypto Card Race, Agentic Payments & Onchain Credit

(48:00) What Chains Does Rain Work With?

(53:28) Rain’s Journey To Raising $250m

(01:03:00) How Rain Grew To A $2B Company

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Disclaimer: Nothing said on Empire is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Santiago, Jason, Rob and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.