Rakuten adds XRP payments for 44M users

TLDR

Rakuten has integrated XRP payments into its Rakuten Pay ecosystem in Japan, giving XRP a direct route into everyday retail spending.

1. Rakuten Wallet and Rakuten Pay now let 44 million users buy XRP with Rakuten Points and spend it at over 5 million merchants across Japan starting April 15, 2026.
2. More than 3 trillion Rakuten Points, worth about 23 billion dollars, are now convertible into XRP, creating one of the largest real world on?ramps for a single crypto asset.
3. The impact will depend on how many users actually convert points into XRP and on follow up integrations like Rakuten Bank and potential tax changes in Japan.

Deep Dive

1. What Rakuten Has Enabled

Rakuten Wallet has listed XRP for spot trading and tied it directly into Rakuten Pay, so users can buy XRP with Rakuten Points, hold it, then convert it into Rakuten Cash for in store payments. Reports say this gives XRP access to 44 million users and over 5 million stores in Japan.

Crucially, among several new listings on Rakuten Wallet, XRP is the only asset that received full Rakuten Pay integration across the national merchant network. This moves XRP from being just a trading asset to being embedded in a mainstream payment app many Japanese already use daily.

2. Why This Matters For XRP And Crypto

Rakutens loyalty system has over 3 trillion points outstanding, worth roughly 23 billion dollars in value that can now be converted into XRP. That pool is far larger than the roughly 1 billion dollars held in all United States XRP exchange traded products cited in the same coverage.

This turns loyalty points into a soft bridge between fiat and crypto. Users who never opened a crypto exchange account can accumulate points through shopping, convert some into XRP, and immediately spend via Rakuten Pay without changing apps. In parallel, Japan has approved a bill to shift crypto capital gains to a flat 20 percent rate, which could make holding converted XRP more attractive if that law takes effect.

3. Key Signals To Watch Next

The headline numbers are huge, but the real driver will be behavior. Important signals include how many users convert points into XRP versus just spending points as yen and whether Rakuten extends promos that give XRP rewards for spending.

On the infrastructure side, a planned Rakuten Bank link could let 17 million banking customers move fiat into XRP directly, and similar integrations by Japanese competitors would confirm that this model is spreading. For XRP specifically, analysts will watch whether sustained payment usage and point conversion translate into higher and stickier demand rather than a one off news driven price spike.

Conclusion

Rakutens XRP rollout connects a large, trusted Japanese consumer ecosystem to a single crypto asset, giving XRP one of the clearest shots at mainstream retail usage. The opportunity is significant in scale, but the lasting impact will be decided by real user adoption and whether other platforms replicate this loyalty to crypto payment model.