Key Highlights
-
Rakuten's 44 million users can now buy, hold, and spend XRP through the Rakuten Pay app at over 5 million merchant locations across Japan.
-
Over 3 trillion Rakuten Points, worth roughly $23 billion, can now be converted into XRP, marking the first time a third-party token has been embedded in Rakuten's loyalty infrastructure.
-
Rakuten plans to connect its wallet directly to Rakuten Bank by Q3 2026, opening seamless fiat-to-XRP conversion for an additional 17 million banking customers.
Japan's largest e-commerce and loyalty platform has made XRP spendable across its entire merchant network, in one of the most significant real-world crypto payment deployments to date.
Starting April 15, Rakuten Wallet users gained the ability to purchase XRP with Rakuten Points, trade it within the app, and use it at merchants throughout the Rakuten Pay ecosystem. XRP becomes the first third-party token fully integrated into the loyalty and payments infrastructure.
The scale of the loyalty system involved is substantial. Over 3 trillion Rakuten Points are currently in circulation, carrying an estimated value of roughly $23 billion. All of this can now flow into XRP, significantly expanding the token's real-world utility and liquidity base across Asia.
Rakuten has announced a further integration at its banking arm by Q3 2026, which would connect Rakuten Wallet directly to Rakuten Bank and open fiat-to-XRP conversion for 17 million additional banking customers, signaling Japan's accelerating shift toward crypto as mainstream payments infrastructure.
