Finance
What to know, dear reader, if you must:
- Rakuten, that Japanese behemoth of e-commerce, has deigned to allow its 44 million subjects to frolic with XRP via its Rakuten Pay app. Imagine, if you will, the spectacle of 5 million merchant locations across Japan bowing to the whims of Ripple’s cryptocurrency.
- Come April 15, a date as arbitrary as any in this absurd dance, users shall be permitted to barter their Rakuten Points for XRP, engage in spot trades, and sequester their digital trinkets in the Rakuten Wallet. A loyalty system, they call it-a labyrinth of points and tokens, where 3 trillion points (worth a mere $23 billion) now find themselves transmogrified into XRP.
- This follows Rakuten’s earlier dalliances with bitcoin, ether, and bitcoin cash. A Ripple executive, no doubt puffed with self-importance, declares this a “major milestone.” One can only marvel at the gravity of such pronouncements in this theater of the absurd.
Japan’s e-commerce titan, Rakuten, has graciously opened its gates to XRP, permitting its 44 million minions to wield Ripple’s cryptocurrency as a payment method across 5 million merchant locations. A grand gesture, no doubt, though one wonders if the merchants themselves are as enthralled.
In a proclamation via X (formerly known as Twitter, for those who still cling to nostalgia), Tatsuya Kohrogi, Ripple’s senior ecosystem growth manager, revealed that Rakuten’s users may now engage in spot trades of XRP. They may also exchange their Rakuten points for this digital bauble and stash it in their Rakuten Wallet. A seamless integration, they assure us, into one of Japan’s largest loyalty systems-a system so vast, so intricate, that one might lose oneself in its labyrinthine corridors.
“Starting April 15, Rakuten Wallet shall unveil XRP as both a listed asset and a payment method,” Kohrogi intoned, his words dripping with the weight of prophecy. “Users may purchase XRP directly with Rakuten Points and charge their Rakuten Cash with XRP to spend it at over 5 million merchant locations across Japan.” He dares to call this “one of the most significant XRP milestones,” though one suspects the significance lies more in the eye of the beholder.
The Ripple executive, ever the optimist, extols Rakuten as one of Japan’s most trusted consumer brands. “The fact that XRP is now embedded into its loyalty and payments infrastructure,” he declares, “is a powerful signal of where digital asset adoption is heading.” One cannot help but wonder if this signal is a beacon of progress or a harbinger of chaos.
Rakuten, ever the pioneer, began allowing its users to spend bitcoin, ether, and bitcoin cash in 2023. In 2021, it unveiled its own Rakuten Coin, a token destined for its points-based loyalty rewards system. A veritable smorgasbord of digital currencies, each vying for its moment in the spotlight.
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2026-04-14 21:47