I recently came across an interesting piece of news in Japanese fintech. Rakuten Wallet, this Japanese giant, has just officially integrated Ripple (XRP). Starting from April 15th, over 100 million Rakuten members can directly buy and sell XRP, which is a significant move for the Japanese market.

I noticed that the scale behind this is quite astonishing. Rakuten Pay currently has 44 million active users, and the entire Rakuten ecosystem has over 100 million members. More importantly, they hold approximately $23 billion in points assets. Now, these points can be converted into XRP, circulated within Rakuten’s payment system, and finally exchanged for Rakuten cash to spend at over 5 million merchants across Japan.

From a market perspective, what does this mean? Even if only 1% to 5% of points users attempt to convert to XRP, it could generate potential buying pressure of over $230 million to $1 billion. Some estimates suggest this could bring an additional daily trading volume of $5 million to $20 million for XRP. Currently, XRP is priced around $1.41, with a 24-hour decline of about 2.68%. This large-scale retail adoption could potentially change the supply and demand dynamics in the market.

Honestly, this is one of the most significant milestones for Ripple in Asia. The recognition by Japan’s financial system indicates that XRP is transitioning from a mere crypto asset to a practical payment tool. If Rakuten’s integration proceeds smoothly, other Japanese financial institutions might follow suit, which is a very positive signal for the future development of the entire XRP ecosystem.