The Japanese financial sector, which is famous for its conservatism and high technology at the same time, is showing a new, significant turn. The largest market participant, the SBI Holdings conglomerate, is taking an interesting step by adding digital assets to the everyday sphere of consumer finance – loyalty programs for credit cards. Now holders of SBI cards will be able to exchange their accumulated points in the APLUS Points program not for goods or discounts, but directly for the crypt: Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH) and XRP.

The concept of buying digital assets using bank cards is not new. Platforms like Coinbase and Bitget already offer similar solutions. However, SBI has gone further — they do not just allow you to exchange fiat money for cryptocurrency, but integrate it into an existing loyalty system.

The launch of the project, as befits cautious Japanese innovations, is modest in scale. The maximum amount that can be exchanged is only $15. This may seem insignificant, but the real value of the initiative lies not in quick financial results, but in the strong signal it sends to the market and regulators.

Nevertheless, as one would expect from the initial launch, the project raises many practical questions. The current exchange rate looks quite symbolic: 2,100 APLUS points can be exchanged for BTC, ETH or XRP in the amount of 2,000 yen. Due to the fall of the Japanese yen, these points are converted to only $13.64. How easy or difficult is it for an ordinary user to accumulate such a number of points? How will the storage of cryptocurrency be organized – will there be wallets associated with the card, or will it have to be transferred to third-party platforms? Will there be any fees applied? At the moment, SBI does not provide this information, which allows some observers to perceive the project mainly as an attractive marketing ploy.

Despite the modest start and the lack of clear details, the very fact that such a program was launched by the largest financial conglomerate serves as a powerful positive signal for the entire crypto market. Such actions definitely contribute to the beginning of a dialogue with regulators and can accelerate the creation of a clearer and friendlier regulatory environment for cryptocurrencies in Japan.

The SBI experiment is not only information about bonuses, it is a small but significant step towards wider recognition of cryptocurrencies.