Online retail company Rakuten has announced that its customers can now load the payment app with bitcoin, bitcoin cash, and ethereum. What’s more, the “Amazon of Japan” will be offering bonus points to those who leverage “Rakuten Cash” via crypto assets.
The payment service with crypto support will provide customers with access to a rich selection of Rakuten’s products and services, such as Kobo e-books and the company’s travel services. What’s more, Rakuten clients now have the possibility to load their Rakuten app with BTC, BCH, and ETH to buy products at Mister Donut, McDonald’s, Familymart, and 7-11.
The announcement also offers details regarding how crypto users can top up funds with cryptocurrencies via the company’s Rakuten Cash-buying function. To access this function via crypto assets, users will need to leverage the firm’s crypto wallet. Customers who use this function with digital currencies will receive a bonus point gift, though.
The Tokyo-based company also offered details concerning the limits and requirements of this new function. Rakuten said that “it is necessary to open a physical trading account using the Rakuten Wallet and install a smartphone app dedicated to trading.” Plus, there is a minimum charge amount of 1,000 yen, which is $10, and the monthly one-time upper limit for loads is around 100,000 yen ($1,000).
Customers will be able to load their Rakuten Pay accounts with cryptocurrencies 24h/day, 7 days/week, and do so via the firm’s crypto wallet and Rakuten Pay app.
Rakuten isn’t new to crypto as it has shown its interest in cryptocurrencies and their potential for quite some time now. The Rakuten Blockchain Lab was launched in Belfast, UK, five years ago, in 2016. Two years later, in 2018, the company took another step toward crypto by acquiring the crypto exchange project known as “Everybody’s Bitcoin Inc.” It didn’t take long for Rakuten to launch its crypto exchange, though, which happened in August 2019.
Source: Bitcoin.com