XRP enters Japan’s mainstream market via Rakuten’s $23 billion loyalty program

The mainstream adoption of XRP in Japan is about to go mainstream through Rakuten Wallet and Rakuten Pay.

Beginning April 15, 2026, Rakuten Wallet, a regulated digital asset platform in Japan, will integrate with XRP Ledger (XRPL) to list XRP for payments. This was announced by Tatsuya Kohrogi, an ecosystem growth at Ripple Labs, on April 14. Essentially, this strategic listing means Rakuten Wallet users can seamlessly convert more than 3 trillion points, valued at about $23 billion at press time, into XRP.

Additionally, Rakuten Wallet users can use this token for payments via Rakuten Pay at more than 5 million merchants in Japan. Given Rakuten’s user base of over 100 million members, XRP payments have the potential to reach a vast audience and could drive exponential adoption in the near term.

Is Rakuten’s integration the game-changer XRP has been waiting for?

Rakuten’s listing of XRP clearly shows its rising demand in Japan and the wider Asian market. Furthermore, Rakuten’s e-commerce network processed approximately $40 billion in gross merchandise value for the financial year 2025, according to its latest financial results.

If XRP captures 1% of Rakuten’s annual payments, that would amount to nearly $400 million in transaction volume. As such, the organic demand for this altcoin could scale significantly as more Rakuten wallet users shift to digital assets. Furthermore, XRP’s price appreciation potential could deliver greater long-term value for Rakuten’s points holders than a static fiat conversion.

As such, the expected spike in the token’s trading volume in Asia could bolster the token’s long-term value. Moreover, more institutions, led by SBI Ripple Asia, as Finbold noted, have been building systems to use the token and the XRPL for real-time payments.