XRP transaction unlocks 100 billion dollars of dormant points, Webus initiates cross-brand exchange revolution.

NASDAQ-listed company Webus International announced the launch of a tokenized travel rewards exchange powered by the XRP stablecoin, targeting the over $100 billion unredeemed loyalty points market globally. Through XRP trading technology, instant cross-brand settlement will be achieved, allowing airline miles, hotel points, and ride-sharing points to circulate freely like cash for the first time.

100 billion USD lies dormant in a fragmented loyalty system

(Source: LinkedIn)

Every year, global travelers earn loyalty points worth hundreds of billions of dollars through airlines, hotels, and mobile applications, but most of these rewards never leave the accounts in which they were earned. Hatem Kemali, co-founder of the digital rewards platform Resal, estimates that over $100 billion in points remain unredeemed, becoming the largest hidden waste in the consumer finance sector.

The reason behind this phenomenon is not that consumers do not want to use points, but rather that structural barriers make redemption exceptionally difficult. Kemali explained, “Points are trapped in fragmented systems. Difficult to track. Difficult to integrate. Difficult to use.” A traveler may simultaneously hold Emirates miles, Marriott hotel points, and Grab ride points, but these systems are completely unable to communicate with each other, forming isolated digital islands.

Traditional reward networks operate like closed economies. Each brand establishes its own points system, setting exclusive redemption rules and value calculation methods. When consumers want to use these points, they often find that the redemption options are extremely limited, either only usable within specific brands or the redemption rates are not favorable. Worse still, many points have expiration dates, causing a significant amount of value to disappear before consumers have a chance to use them.

Kemali further pointed out that consumer expectations have fundamentally changed: “Traditionally, loyalty points were earned after shopping and had limited redemption options. But today, consumers want to use loyalty like money, not just for discounts.” The huge gap between this expectation and reality is the fundamental reason for the $100 billion in dormant points.

For brands, these unredeemed points are recorded on the books as liabilities, but in reality, they have become a form of hidden revenue. However, this model is damaging consumer trust, and more and more travelers are beginning to question the value of accumulating loyalty points. This friction is precisely the huge business opportunity that Webus International hopes to capture through XRP trading technology.

How Webus Uses XRP to Break the Fragmentation Dilemma

Last week, Singapore-based Nasdaq-listed company Webus International announced an ambitious plan to revolutionize the global loyalty market through XRP trading technology. This financial firm focused on the XRP ecosystem launched a tokenized travel rewards exchange supported by the XRP stablecoin system, aiming to convert points trapped in isolated systems into freely tradable liquid value.

Webus's blockchain framework tokenizes traditional loyalty points and connects them through the XRP trading system. This architecture allows users to instantly redeem points across multiple brands, enabling real-time conversions between brands and regions without incurring currency risks or undergoing cumbersome manual verifications. More importantly, settlements are completed through XRP-based stablecoin payments instead of traditional opaque accounting ledger records.

Webus CEO Zheng Nan stated in a statement: “By integrating XRP stablecoin settlement, our goal is to bring instant, low-cost, and transparent value transfer to the travel rewards ecosystem.” This transparency and immediacy is the core element that traditional loyalty systems lack.

Although the company has yet to provide further clarification on the specific operational mechanisms of certain stablecoins or XRP transactions within the system, it can be reasonably inferred from the technical architecture that the XRP Ledger (XRPL) will play a central role in the program. In this system, Ripple's RLUSD stablecoin and XRP will serve as bridge assets, allowing Webus to conduct cross-border settlements through RippleNet's existing payment corridors.

The advantages of this design are manifold. First, value transfer can be completed in seconds, rather than taking days like traditional bank settlements. Second, the low-cost features of XRP transactions can significantly reduce system operating expenses, and these cost savings can be converted into more favorable exchange rates for consumers. Third, the system can enhance liquidity, allowing consumers to truly control their membership balances “like cash,” no longer limited by a brand's closed ecosystem.

The actual application scenario might be like this: a traveler holds miles and hotel points from multiple airlines, and through the Webus platform, these scattered points can be instantly converted into a unified value unit, which can then be used to pay for services from any partner brand, and may even be directly exchanged for fiat currency. This flexibility will fundamentally change the experience of using loyalty points, allowing the dormant $100 billion value to truly flow.

Why Ripple Technology is the Key to the Loyalty Revolution

The choice of Webus to build on Ripple technology is not accidental, but based on the unique technical advantages of the XRP trading system. The core settlement stack of Ripple is designed to address the issue of multi-currency congestion, allowing institutions to transfer funds instantly without the need to pre-fund accounts, using XRP to establish a bridge between different local currencies.

This design has long been applied in the field of cross-border banking, and now it can provide ready technical support for loyalty conversion. Unlike the traditional SWIFT system, which requires multiple intermediary banks, takes several days to process, and incurs high fees, XRP transactions can complete cross-border settlements in 3 to 5 seconds, with fees only costing a few cents. This efficiency advantage is particularly important when handling large volumes of small loyalty point conversions.

The integration of stablecoins is also consistent with Ripple's broader advancement in the tokenization of real-world assets. RLUSD was launched last year, providing enterprises with a USD-denominated settlement option that is natively compatible with XRPL. This stablecoin combines the immediacy of cryptocurrency with the stability of fiat currency, making it an ideal value carrier for applications like Webus.

For Webus, adopting RLUSD means stable, regulated liquidity that can avoid the risks brought by cryptocurrency price fluctuations. For Ripple, this marks an important step in expanding the utility of XRP transactions from institutional payments to a consumer-facing ecosystem. This expansion not only validates the scalability of the technology but also opens up a vast new application market for XRP.

If Webus's plan succeeds, it will demonstrate how stablecoins can solve real-world problems beyond the exchange. XRP and RLUSD will not chase speculative profits, but will quietly power the value exchange behind everyday transactions, transforming loyalty points into a universal microcurrency in the travel sector. This “infrastructure as a service” model may better showcase the true value of blockchain technology than mere price speculation.

More broadly, the case of Webus may become a template for XRP transactions in other fragmented market applications. From gift cards to game points, from membership benefits to various digital rewards, countless values are trapped in isolated systems. If XRP transactions can prove their value in the travel loyalty sector, the same technological framework can be replicated in these adjacent markets, potentially unlocking hundreds of billions of dollars in dormant value.

For ordinary consumers, the significance of this revolution lies in regaining control over the value they earn. Loyalty points will no longer be a tool that brands can arbitrarily devalue or restrict, but rather a digital asset that truly belongs to consumers and can be freely allocated. This shift could fundamentally change the power balance between brands and consumers, driving the entire loyalty economy towards a more transparent and equitable direction.