Sumitomo Mitsui Trust, Hashport let users convert rewards to JPYC

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Club and Hashport will let Diners Club and Trust Club cardholders convert credit-card reward points into JPYC, a stablecoin pegged to the Japanese yen, beginning next Monday. Cardholders can exchange 2,500 Diners Club points or 4,000 Trust Club points for 1,000 JPYC. A promotional period from June 1 through Nov. 30 will return 500 points for every 1,000 points converted.

Hashport will use its non-custodial wallet platform to process the exchanges. Converted JPYC can be held and spent across multiple blockchain networks, including Ethereum, Avalanche, Polygon and Kaia. Cardholders will select the number of points to convert through Hashport’s service when it goes live.

Converted JPYC can be used to pay merchants and services that accept the stablecoin or moved across supported chains for other on-chain transactions. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Club and Hashport described the program as the first service in Japan to enable direct conversion of card rewards into stablecoins.

Nobuaki Yamaguchi, president and representative director of Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Club, welcomed the pairing of a widely used rewards program with stablecoins and noted that the company’s reward points do not expire.

Hashport CEO Yoshihiro Yoshida stressed the scale of loyalty points in Japan, saying, “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.”

Noritaka Okabe, representative director at JPYC, described the effort as “an important connection between existing payment services and blockchain technology” and added that partners expect stablecoin use to expand from everyday consumer spending to business applications.

Hashport will operate the exchange infrastructure and JPYC will supply the yen-linked token that users receive in return for points. The promotional cashback is calculated in points and will be credited back to participants’ card accounts during the campaign window.

The partners say the offering allows cardholders to move stored value from loyalty programs into a blockchain-native token while retaining the yen peg of JPYC. The service is limited to Diners Club and Trust Club cardholders and will begin processing conversions when the platform launches next Monday.