Rakuten – the retailing heavyweight from Japan – has reportedly enabled its customers to purchase Bitcoin, via the use of its Rakuten Group loyalty points. 

Specifically revealed by the firm on December 24, the newly added feature will be instantly rolled out for all Japan-based Rakuten users, who have in their possession an account with Rakuten Wallet – a subsidiary arm for trading crypto of Rakuten. 

Rakuten claimed that the new feature will facilitate the conversion of loyalty points to 3 different digital coins, including Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), and Bitcoin Cash (BCH).

Currently, a single Rakuten Super Point has the value equivalent of one Japanese yen (around $0.009), which means users need to collect 100 points minimum to meet the smallest required amount on an exchange. 

Converted digital coins will not be changed back to Rakuten Super Points, and the allowed sum of day-to-day and month-to-month transactions are capped at 30,000 points and 100,000 points, as default. 

The new initiative from Rakuten seems to be a move aiming at increasing blockchain adoption rate, along with advertising the firm’s loyalty program. 

“Rakuten Wallet hopes to reduce the barriers of entry to crypto asset trading by providing an easy and more accessible way for new users to start, including novice users who are interested in crypto asset trading with no prior experience.”