The announcement constitutes the first initiative of its kind in Japan, allowing users to exchange their loyalty points received for JPYC, Japan’s first onchore yen stablecoin. The initiative has the potential to bring ¥2.8 trillion to the stablecoin ecosystem, powering massive adoption.
Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Club and Hashport Launch Reward Point To Stablecoin Exchange Program
Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Club, a financial services company, and Hashport, a non-custodial cryptocurrency wallet, have joined forces to launch a trading service for credit card reward points and stablecoins.
The service, labeled as the first of its kind, will allow cardholders of Diners Club and Trust Club cards to trade their accumulated points for JPYC stablecoins, which are pegged to the value of the Japanese yen.
Hashport will serve as the platform to complete these exchanges, with every 2,500 reward points from Diners Club cards and every 4,000 points from the Trust card exchangeable for 1,000 JPYC when the service starts next Monday.
In addition, to celebrate the launch, the service is establishing a cashback program from June 1 to November 30 that will return 500 points for every 1,000 points exchanged. The JPYC received can be managed in 4 different chains, including Ethereum, Avalanche, Polygon, and Kaia, and can be used freely to pay for products and services.
Nobuaki Yamaguchi, President and Representative Director, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Club, stated that they were delighted to combine stablecoins, which are attracting global attention as a safe and reliable next-generation payment method, with credit card points.
He also explained that their reward points had no expiration date.
HashPort’s CEO Yoshihiro Yoshida remarked on the relevance of this kind of program as a catalyst to increase adoption of stablecoins in Japan. “Points represent a massive fund pool with over 2.8 trillion yen newly issued annually, and have the potential to be a catalyst for the social implementation of stablecoins,” he stressed.
Finally, Noritaka Okabe, Representative Director at JPYC, stressed this move was “an important step in connecting existing payment services with blockchain technology,” aiming for stablecoin use “to expand from daily life to business settings.”
