{"id":9436,"date":"2022-06-08T10:00:40","date_gmt":"2022-06-08T04:30:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gtm360.com\/blog\/?p=9436"},"modified":"2022-09-15T13:55:17","modified_gmt":"2022-09-15T08:25:17","slug":"blockchain-loyalty-programs-sizzling-or-fizzling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gtm360.com\/blog\/2022\/06\/08\/blockchain-loyalty-programs-sizzling-or-fizzling\/","title":{"rendered":"Blockchain Loyalty Programs – Sizzling Or Fizzling?"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve been asked many times to share my take on the latest status of Rakuten Coin<\/strong><\/em>, an altcoin that I wrote about in How Blockchain Can Crack The Holy Grail Of Loyalty Programs<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0four years ago.<\/p>\n

That is not strictly true. I\u2019ve been asked only once, by someone on Twitter.<\/p>\n

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@droskill: The Rakuten coin was launched in 2018 – but I can (can’t?) find a single mention of it after the intro. Any idea what happened to it? Does it still exist?<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

(Fans of Joseph Heller might find a striking resemblance between the above paragraphs and the opening paragraphs of Good As Gold<\/a>, one of my all time favorite novels. I apologize in advance to the Estate of Heller for taking the liberty of paraphrasing what\u2019s one of the most captivating novel starts that I\u2019ve ever read.)<\/em><\/p>\n

I did some quick-and-dirty research on Rakuten Coin and this is what I found:<\/p>\n

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  • There’s no mention of Rakuten Coin anywhere on Google, at least not in any English language websites. I didn’t check the Japanese language entries on the SERP.<\/li>\n
  • I found several mentions of Rakuten Pay, Rakuten Points, Rakuten Cash, and Rakuten Point Card. Cf. Coindesk<\/em> article entitled\u00a0E-Commerce Giant Rakuten Now Lets Users Shop With Cryptocurrency<\/strong><\/a> and Rakuten.Today<\/em> blog post entitled Rakuten Points: Much more than just a loyalty program<\/strong><\/a>.<\/li>\n
  • According to the Rakuten.Today<\/em> blog post: “Since 2017, crypto asset management service Rakuten Wallet has allowed users to buy and sell cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, conveniently exchanging them to and from Japanese yen. But yen isn\u2019t your only ticket to ride the cryptocurrency train: Rakuten Wallet users can also use their Rakuten Points to top up their portfolio<\/strong><\/em>. The service sweetened the deal even further, introducing a new way for users to convert their assets back into a spendable currency. For no cost, users can now turn their Bitcoin and Ethereum into Rakuten Cash<\/strong><\/em> \u2014 tied to the Japanese yen and functionally similar to Rakuten Points” (emphasis mine.)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

    From the above, it would appear that Rakuten did not go forward with its original plan of minting alt-coin (Rakuten Coin) from its loyalty points (Rakuten Points).<\/p>\n

    That said, by permitting consumers to convert Rakuten Points to cryptocurrencies and convert those cryptocurrencies back to Rakuten Cash, the Japanese conglomerate has achieved “Buoyancy” and “Unlimited Liquidity”, the two defining attributes \/ key benefits of a blockchain loyalty program that I’d described in my original post. So Rakuten is effectively running a blockchain loyalty program.<\/p>\n

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    "Rewarding customers in cryptocurrencies, whose inherent volatility provide the desired unpredictability, is proving to be a particularly popular approach." ~ @AlexH_Johnson<\/a> .<\/p>\n

    aka "buoyancy" feature I spec'ced for my customer's loyalty platform. https:\/\/t.co\/bQAjH0iijR<\/a><\/p>\n

    — Ketharaman Swaminathan (@s_ketharaman) June 29, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n