E-Commerce Giant Rakuten Now Lets Users Shop With Cryptocurrency

The move opens up crypto payments at thousands of merchants across Japan that accept Rakuten Pay and Rakuten Point Card.

By Tanzeel Akhtar

Mar 1, 2021 at 10:03 a.m. UTC

Updated Sep 14, 2021 at 12:18 p.m. UTC

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Tanzeel Akhtar

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Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten is now allowing users to spend bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies at merchants throughout Japan.

According to a recent announcement, users of Rakuten's cryptocurrency wallet can now exchange bitcoin, ether and bitcoin cash for the firm’s e-money, Rakuten Cash, to charge its Pay app and Point credit card.
The firm says it's not levying fees on such transfers, which can range from 1,000 yen ($9.37) to a maximum of 100,000 yen ($937) in total value per month.
The move means customers can pay with crypto at thousands of merchants across Japan that accept Rakuten Pay and Rakuten Point Card.
This spring, Rakuten is also integrating its crypto wallet into the Pay app.
Rakuten's ecommerce service has over 95 million registered users according to a JPMorgan insight report.

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