Costs, licensing, consumer protection Privacy, self-custody, censorship resistance

Chain

Chain, Inc.

3.4/5 0.5/5
Service Stablecoin infrastructure

Data verified on unchanged since the sources

Worth it if you're a company wanting a single API for cards, wallets, payouts and stablecoin ledger, with a track record since 2014 and investors like Visa and Nasdaq.

Avoid it if you're an end consumer or need clear pricing and licensing: it's B2B infrastructure with sparse public disclosure.

Chain is a blockchain technology company founded in 2014 that now offers stablecoin infrastructure for payments at scale: through a single API it lets businesses issue cards, manage wallets, send global payouts and reconcile with a built-in ledger. It has raised over $40M from investors including Khosla Ventures, Pantera, Capital One, Citigroup, Fiserv, Nasdaq and Visa; in 2018 it was acquired by Stellar (Interstellar) and re-acquired in 2020.

17
Transparency: Very low
17/100 · see methodology
17
Data exposure: Minimal
17/100 · lower is better for sovereignty · methodology

Data & conditions

Service type Stablecoin infrastructure
Pricing model Custom quote
Stablecoins USDC
Custody model qualified-custody
Customer type Fintech, Enterprise, Developers, Platforms
Fund custody Custodial (platform holds funds)
Supported countries US
Segment B2B
MiCA / License status Not disclosed

Strengths

  • Unified API covering cards, wallets, payouts and ledger for stablecoin payments.
  • Long history (since 2014) and top-tier investors (Visa, Citigroup, Nasdaq, Khosla, Pantera).
  • No notable sovereignty advantage documented.

Weaknesses

  • B2B infrastructure: not accessible to end consumers.
  • Thin public disclosure: licence and pricing details not published.
  • Custodial: the platform holds your funds and can freeze or lose them.

Verdict

B D ★ 3.4/5 ★ 0.5/5

Score 3.4/5, solid profile. In its favour: unified API covering cards, wallets, payouts and ledger for stablecoin payments. The trade-off to weigh: b2B infrastructure: not accessible to end consumers.

On the Sovereignty lens the score is 0.5/5 (weak): the strength is fund control (0.5/5).

Fund control 20% 0.5

Promp's editorial rating based on real fees and net annual cost. Promp reviews third-party products independently.

"Sovereignty" rating: score computed on privacy/anonymity (30%), fund control (20%), censorship resistance (20%), trustless/auditability (20%) and costs (10%). Same data, different weights.

Reputation

What happened to people who used Chain, and what users say. External signals: they do not feed the promp.it rating.

Incidents & regulatory actions

No known incident

Search across public sources: no known hack, withdrawal freeze or regulatory action as of the verification date.

verified on

FAQ

Can an individual use Chain?

No. Chain provides infrastructure and APIs to fintechs, enterprises and developers building payment products; it is not an end-consumer service.

Does Chain custody funds?

Chain provides infrastructure for stablecoin wallets, cards and payouts, handling funds in transit within business clients' flows; exact arrangements depend on the deployment.

Sources

Update history

✓ Terms unchanged since Jul 17, 2026

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