Rakuten Enables 44 Million Users to Convert Points to XRP

Japanese retail giant Rakuten has integrated XRP into its Wallet app, allowing over 44 million Rakuten Pay users to convert loyalty points worth approximately $23 billion into the cryptocurrency, trade it in-app and spend it at more than five million merchant locations nationwide. The rollout, confirmed by RippleX on April 30, 2026, marks one of the largest retail deployments of XRP as a payment method to date and has propelled social sentiment around the token to its second-highest level in two years, according to on-chain analytics firm Santiment.

Rakuten Wallet users can now instantly convert Rakuten Points into XRP without external transfers, bridging loyalty rewards with cryptocurrency trading and QR code payments through the Rakuten Pay network. The initial launch targets Android users, with an iOS version planned soon. To encourage adoption, Rakuten is running a promotional campaign offering bonus XRP tokens to users purchasing at least 30,000 yen worth, with larger rewards via lottery for investments of 100,000 yen or more.

Ripple Senior Ecosystem Growth Manager Tatsuya Kohrogi highlighted the integration's reach, noting that Rakuten Pay serves as an everyday commerce...