The e-Commerce giant Rakuten (Japan) announced the launch of a new loyalty program to reward customers who will now be working on the Blockchain with its own cryptocurrency.
CEO of Rakuten Hiroshi Mikitani made the announcement at the Mobile World Congress (MWC), taking place in Barcelona. The token will carry the same name Rakuten Coin.
Rakuten Coin will be used in one of the world’s most popular messenger – Viber. The cryptocurrency can be used for in-app purchases and money transfers around the world.
Rakuten is the sponsor of football club Barcelona in 2016
Rakuten Coin will replace the existing program “Super Points”, which rightfully earned the title of one of the most robust loyalty programs in the ecosystem of electronic Commerce. In 15 years of its existence, customers earned about $9.1 billion in bonuses. Mikitani not announced the exact release date Rakuten Coin, but noted that it will be integrated into all subsidiaries of the company, including Ebates, PriceMinister and Viber. The cryptocurrency can be used for in-app purchases and money transfers around the world. At the moment it is unclear whether Rakuten Coin to work independently, on own blockchain development or Rakuten will be built on the blockchain, Ethereum, Stellar, NEM or NEO using smart contracts.
Unlimited currency for international payments
Rakuten believes that the creation of a “limitless” currency will allow the firm to significantly reduce the cost (Commission) transactions relating to ordinary international payments. It can help the firm to manage the traffic between subsidiaries.
“Our concept is to build a truly comfortable ecosystem for your business and customers,” said Mikitani.
As reported by CCN, Rakuten has acquired the startup process payments Bitcoin Bitnet in 2016, and then launched a laboratory for testing the Blockchain. Obviously, Rakuten Coin is a product developed under the agreement with Bitnet.
