Japanese E-Commerce Giant "Rakuten" is going to launch its own cryptocurrency

[mikfresh]

I made a summary from various articles i've read and what i can tell you i that there is still no release date for the project, but here is what we know so far:

Japan’s largest e-commerce company Rakuten, with a market capitalization of over $12.5 bln (last year revenue was $8.8 billion), is planning to launch its own cryptocurrency called Rakuten Coin based on Blockchain technology, implementing the "actual rakuten super points loyalty program". What does this mean? There have been over 1 trillion Super Points awarded to users since the program was launched 15 years ago, equivalent to $9.1 billion, and the idea will be to now give users more ways of applying those loyalty points to more purchases, as a way of driving more purchasing to collect them in the first place.
Points currently are collected each time you buy — or, in certain markets where Rakuten runs marketplaces, sell — items or services on the site. As with its rival Amazon, Rakuten has a payment also has an MVNO mobile service with plans to launch its own full-blown mobile carrier — all of which become ways of spending more money as part of the loyalty program.

The announcement was made by Rakuten CEO and founder Hiroshi Mikitani during his speech at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona on Feb. 27.
Mikitani referred to his newly announced asset as ‎a “borderless currency,” underlining Rakuten’s vision of differentiating itself from its online retail rivals, like Amazon, Alibaba or eBay and "recreating" the relationship between retailers and merchants.

There are two main points that Mikitani wants to reach:

1) the company wants to see if it can drive more transactions from people internationally by cutting out some of the exchange rate fees and other issues if they buy in fiat currencies.
2) there is simply the buzz of crypto today: people who might not have been all that interested in loyalty programs before might turn on to them if they see their reward as blockchain buy-in.

There are some 44,000 merchants selling goods on Rakuten in Japan, its biggest market. Other holdings include PriceMinister in France (which is now rebranding to Rakuten) and Ebates, the rebates website operator in the US that Rakuten acquired for $1 billion in 2014. The logic will be to add Rakuten Coin to all of Rakuten’s businesses — some of which today have loyalty programs, and some of which do not.

The quote that i can report as read in various articles is the following:
“Basically, our concept is to recreate the network of retailers and merchants,” he said. “We do not want to disconnect [them from their customers] but function as a catalyst. That is our philosophy, how to empower society not just provide more convenience.”

BULLISH NEWS in my opinion, the more people get to know the cryptocurrencies, the better. Curious on what we will see in the next months in this market.

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[boyddd]

good news， but i think too many scams hazard too many people！I hope they help

[dlastdon]

a very good alternative fact for E-commerce  ,i think rakuten is taking a bold step.

[heritage35]

Yes, Rakuten ia a good platform for trading. This news is enticing. I will also be on the wait, to expect more from them. I will e very much interested on what comes out of the project. If it succeeds, it will be a good development not just to Rakuten alone, but also to Japanese E-commerce industry in entirety, because this will make it easy for others to follow suit.

[mikfresh]

Yes, Rakuten ia a good platform for trading. This news is enticing. I will also be on the wait, to expect more from them. I will e very much interested on what comes out of the project. If it succeeds, it will be a good development not just to Rakuten alone, but also to Japanese E-commerce industry in entirety, because this will make it easy for others to follow suit.

Sure, it can be of great help considering the size of their infrastructure, it covers a large portion of East e-Commerce. Lots of Japanese will then get attracted by crypto due to their loyalty program

[yura888]

I made a summary from various articles i've read and what i can tell you i that there is still no release date for the project, but here is what we know so far:

Japan’s largest e-commerce company Rakuten, with a market capitalization of over $12.5 bln (last year revenue was $8.8 billion), is planning to launch its own cryptocurrency called Rakuten Coin based on Blockchain technology, implementing the "actual rakuten super points loyalty program". What does this mean? There have been over 1 trillion Super Points awarded to users since the program was launched 15 years ago, equivalent to $9.1 billion, and the idea will be to now give users more ways of applying those loyalty points to more purchases, as a way of driving more purchasing to collect them in the first place.
Points currently are collected each time you buy — or, in certain markets where Rakuten runs marketplaces, sell — items or services on the site. As with its rival Amazon, Rakuten has a payment also has an MVNO mobile service with plans to launch its own full-blown mobile carrier — all of which become ways of spending more money as part of the loyalty program.

The announcement was made by Rakuten CEO and founder Hiroshi Mikitani during his speech at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona on Feb. 27.
Mikitani referred to his newly announced asset as ‎a “borderless currency,” underlining Rakuten’s vision of differentiating itself from its online retail rivals, like Amazon, Alibaba or eBay and "recreating" the relationship between retailers and merchants.

There are two main points that Mikitani wants to reach:

1) the company wants to see if it can drive more transactions from people internationally by cutting out some of the exchange rate fees and other issues if they buy in fiat currencies.
2) there is simply the buzz of crypto today: people who might not have been all that interested in loyalty programs before might turn on to them if they see their reward as blockchain buy-in.

There are some 44,000 merchants selling goods on Rakuten in Japan, its biggest market. Other holdings include PriceMinister in France (which is now rebranding to Rakuten) and Ebates, the rebates website operator in the US that Rakuten acquired for $1 billion in 2014. The logic will be to add Rakuten Coin to all of Rakuten’s businesses — some of which today have loyalty programs, and some of which do not.

The quote that i can report as read in various articles is the following:
“Basically, our concept is to recreate the network of retailers and merchants,” he said. “We do not want to disconnect [them from their customers] but function as a catalyst. That is our philosophy, how to empower society not just provide more convenience.”

BULLISH NEWS in my opinion, the more people get to know the cryptocurrencies, the better. Curious on what we will see in the next months in this market.

Japanese cool people, they are always ahead of everyone in the development of cryptocurrency. I think that this is a very good idea and the project will be successful

[Brothersav]

This does sound like a utility token and a share in the company. However I am intrigued.. I'm very bullish on Japanese blockchain technology and solid companies. I feel like Japanese blockchain is the next bull run opportunity for investors- considering it's been legalised there. THANKYOU for sharing

[GlennEfrain]

I made a summary from various articles i've read and what i can tell you i that there is still no release date for the project, but here is what we know so far:

Japan’s largest e-commerce company Rakuten, with a market capitalization of over $12.5 bln (last year revenue was $8.8 billion), is planning to launch its own cryptocurrency called Rakuten Coin based on Blockchain technology, implementing the "actual rakuten super points loyalty program". What does this mean? There have been over 1 trillion Super Points awarded to users since the program was launched 15 years ago, equivalent to $9.1 billion, and the idea will be to now give users more ways of applying those loyalty points to more purchases, as a way of driving more purchasing to collect them in the first place.
Points currently are collected each time you buy — or, in certain markets where Rakuten runs marketplaces, sell — items or services on the site. As with its rival Amazon, Rakuten has a payment also has an MVNO mobile service with plans to launch its own full-blown mobile carrier — all of which become ways of spending more money as part of the loyalty program.

The announcement was made by Rakuten CEO and founder Hiroshi Mikitani during his speech at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona on Feb. 27.
Mikitani referred to his newly announced asset as ‎a “borderless currency,” underlining Rakuten’s vision of differentiating itself from its online retail rivals, like Amazon, Alibaba or eBay and "recreating" the relationship between retailers and merchants.

There are two main points that Mikitani wants to reach:

1) the company wants to see if it can drive more transactions from people internationally by cutting out some of the exchange rate fees and other issues if they buy in fiat currencies.
2) there is simply the buzz of crypto today: people who might not have been all that interested in loyalty programs before might turn on to them if they see their reward as blockchain buy-in.

There are some 44,000 merchants selling goods on Rakuten in Japan, its biggest market. Other holdings include PriceMinister in France (which is now rebranding to Rakuten) and Ebates, the rebates website operator in the US that Rakuten acquired for $1 billion in 2014. The logic will be to add Rakuten Coin to all of Rakuten’s businesses — some of which today have loyalty programs, and some of which do not.

The quote that i can report as read in various articles is the following:
“Basically, our concept is to recreate the network of retailers and merchants,” he said. “We do not want to disconnect [them from their customers] but function as a catalyst. That is our philosophy, how to empower society not just provide more convenience.”

BULLISH NEWS in my opinion, the more people get to know the cryptocurrencies, the better. Curious on what we will see in the next months in this market.

big companies getting in to cryptos is like positive advertisement for cryptos

[GerardDurwin]

I made a summary from various articles i've read and what i can tell you i that there is still no release date for the project, but here is what we know so far:

Japan’s largest e-commerce company Rakuten, with a market capitalization of over $12.5 bln (last year revenue was $8.8 billion), is planning to launch its own cryptocurrency called Rakuten Coin based on Blockchain technology, implementing the "actual rakuten super points loyalty program". What does this mean? There have been over 1 trillion Super Points awarded to users since the program was launched 15 years ago, equivalent to $9.1 billion, and the idea will be to now give users more ways of applying those loyalty points to more purchases, as a way of driving more purchasing to collect them in the first place.
Points currently are collected each time you buy — or, in certain markets where Rakuten runs marketplaces, sell — items or services on the site. As with its rival Amazon, Rakuten has a payment also has an MVNO mobile service with plans to launch its own full-blown mobile carrier — all of which become ways of spending more money as part of the loyalty program.

The announcement was made by Rakuten CEO and founder Hiroshi Mikitani during his speech at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona on Feb. 27.
Mikitani referred to his newly announced asset as ‎a “borderless currency,” underlining Rakuten’s vision of differentiating itself from its online retail rivals, like Amazon, Alibaba or eBay and "recreating" the relationship between retailers and merchants.

There are two main points that Mikitani wants to reach:

1) the company wants to see if it can drive more transactions from people internationally by cutting out some of the exchange rate fees and other issues if they buy in fiat currencies.
2) there is simply the buzz of crypto today: people who might not have been all that interested in loyalty programs before might turn on to them if they see their reward as blockchain buy-in.

There are some 44,000 merchants selling goods on Rakuten in Japan, its biggest market. Other holdings include PriceMinister in France (which is now rebranding to Rakuten) and Ebates, the rebates website operator in the US that Rakuten acquired for $1 billion in 2014. The logic will be to add Rakuten Coin to all of Rakuten’s businesses — some of which today have loyalty programs, and some of which do not.

The quote that i can report as read in various articles is the following:
“Basically, our concept is to recreate the network of retailers and merchants,” he said. “We do not want to disconnect [them from their customers] but function as a catalyst. That is our philosophy, how to empower society not just provide more convenience.”

BULLISH NEWS in my opinion, the more people get to know the cryptocurrencies, the better. Curious on what we will see in the next months in this market.

nice project this is ery good for the economy of japan

[iconoclast]

Only a matter of time before we see Amazon doing something similar. There is a good article in techcrunch. https://techcrunch.com/2018/02/27/rakuten-will-roll-its-9b-loyalty-program-into-a-new-blockchain-based-cryptocurrency-rakuten-coin/

[Manc89]

Yes, Rakuten ia a good platform for trading. This news is enticing. I will also be on the wait, to expect more from them. I will e very much interested on what comes out of the project. If it succeeds, it will be a good development not just to Rakuten alone, but also to Japanese E-commerce industry in entirety, because this will make it easy for others to follow suit.

If rakuten is good platform, so its very big good news if they make their own cryptocurrency.
But personally i dont surprise at all with this move because more and more company specially in japan will follow their government.

[vendy86]

There are two main points that Mikitani wants to reach:

1) the company wants to see if it can drive more transactions from people internationally by cutting out some of the exchange rate fees and other issues if they buy in fiat currencies.
2) there is simply the buzz of crypto today: people who might not have been all that interested in loyalty programs before might turn on to them if they see their reward as blockchain buy-in.

i love this idea,
with crypto they can make a fast transaction and more secure.
but the problem how about shipping cost for the international buyer?
sometimes shipping cost can more expensive than purchase cost 

[JeffBrad12]

Only a matter of time before we see Amazon doing something similar. There is a good article in techcrunch. https://techcrunch.com/2018/02/27/rakuten-will-roll-its-9b-loyalty-program-into-a-new-blockchain-based-cryptocurrency-rakuten-coin/

Not sure about amazon will be doing something that similar with rakuten. As far as i know, amazon will be following SEC compliance. And amazon still makes an analyzation with the potential of the cryptocurrency itself. I remember about amazon try to buy crypto related domain name but it looks like it has become a long-term plan for the amazon company itself. Until the majority of countries will be accepting crypto and it will never have happened.

[Rkoshay]

It sounds good as it will expand the world of cryptocurrency but on the other hand it also sounds like a totally centralized and controlled cryptocurrency which is not so good.

[imteaz]

I think this is just the start we need, few big companies here and there, joining the crypto world, and if it's successful, then more and more well reputed company will come ahead and launch their own crypto currency. So overall it's good news. Can't wait the day when Amazon, Facebook, Twitter etc join

[drewid]

I think this is just the start we need, few big companies here and there, joining the crypto world, and if it's successful, then more and more well reputed company will come ahead and launch their own crypto currency. So overall it's good news. Can't wait the day when Amazon, Facebook, Twitter etc join

please be aware that "new crypto coins" doesn't necessarily mean a new blockchain.  it will operate, more than likely on the NEM blockchain.  japanese and nem are like white on rice lol

[nndep3m]

It sounds good, but this sounds like a centralized blockchain akin to ripple. I mean they'll use blockchain to handle their transactions, that's nice, but there doesn't sound like there's anything decentralized about it at all.

[Acguy]

I personally think this is just a gimmick, what's the point of a loyalty point system being on the block chain or decentralized, just makes it harder if problems come up.

[hotcoin1234]

I would not be suprise, nowdays more and more companies try means and ways to go for ICO but successful or not we will only know after sometime.

[leland orser]

I want to launch the new tokens and chain block has nothing to do, it is not a decentralized, it is still a centralized tokens, just like the Ripper, so I think it was just a hype, rather than a real application.