Rakuten Wallet Mints a SHIB Souvenir While the Token Slides

Rakuten Wallet is minting a physical Shiba Inu souvenir coin and rewarding active spot traders with up to 1.5 million SHIB, the company confirmed on June 25. The campaign widens SHIB’s retail footprint inside one of Japan’s largest consumer internet groups at a moment when the token itself is down more than 20% over the past month. The push pairs a metal collectible with a tiered token giveaway, while SHIB trades well below its 2021 peak.

The drive sits inside Rakuten’s existing consumer rails. The group’s payment app counts about 44 million active users, and its loyalty system has more than 3 trillion points in circulation.

The Real Coin Goes to the Dog

Rakuten Wallet’s official account posted the announcement on June 25, in Japanese, confirming a SHIB coin is in production for the company’s ‘Real Coin’ lineup. The series already includes physical Bitcoin, Ethereum, and XRP replicas, all distributed free at offline event booths and, per the company, well received by attendees. A translated line from the Rakuten Wallet campaign announcement reads: ‘The next Real Coin we are producing is SHIB! We are currently working hard on it.’ The post told followers to ‘look forward to its completion’ while giving no release date.

Crypto.news reported that the SHIB coin will be handed out at the same offline events and exhibition booths that hosted the earlier replicas, a move by Rakuten Wallet to use a tangible object to introduce a digital asset to a more conservative retail audience. Rakuten Wallet framed it as part of its offline engagement strategy, where users can see and handle crypto-themed replicas at events.

A Trading Ladder Built Around Two Thresholds

Alongside the souvenir coin, Rakuten Wallet launched a SHIB campaign tied directly to spot trading volume. Users who trade more than 30,000 yen in spot crypto can receive 500,000 SHIB, worth about 500 yen. Users who trade more than 100,000 yen can receive an additional 1,000,000 SHIB, worth about 1,000 yen.

The combined maximum payout is up to 1.5 million SHIB per user. The yen value is modest, but the token count is large enough to feel meaningful to a retail customer, a consequence of SHIB’s low unit price.

The campaign follows a ‘Photo Contest 2026’ earlier this year, in which Rakuten Wallet gave away SHIB and Dogecoin to selected users who posted dog photos, and the latest promotion extends the same template from social media onto the trading screen. Crypto.news noted that the earlier campaign linked meme coins to pet photos, social sharing, and simple user activity. The same report said Rakuten Wallet added SHIB and DOGE to its list of supported digital assets earlier this year. That dual listing made both tokens available for the rewards program that followed. One recent presale borrowed the SHIB playbook using the same reward-and-community structure Rakuten is now applying to a regulated Japanese retail audience.

Even at the maximum tier, the reward’s yen value sits well below the trading volume required to qualify for it. Users trading 100,000 yen can earn roughly 1,000 yen in SHIB, less than the trading commission at most Japanese crypto venues. The mechanics are designed around brand-building, with the token count doing the heavy lifting on perceived value.

SHIB by the numbers

• SHIB price on June 25: $0.0000044, near the lower end of the day’s range
• SHIB market capitalisation: $2.5 billion to $2.6 billion
• SHIB 24-hour trading volume: $74 million to $80 million
• SHIB’s October 2021 all-time high: $0.0000862
• Maximum campaign reward per user: 1.5 million SHIB

Rakuten’s Wider Crypto Map

The SHIB push is one tile in a wider Rakuten crypto strategy. Crypto.news reported that the broader Rakuten group already routes XRP through several consumer-facing products. Users can convert loyalty points into XRP and spend the token through QR payments at more than 5 million merchant locations across Japan. Rakuten Pay, the group’s payment service, sits at the centre of that footprint with about 44 million active users.

Rakuten’s loyalty system, fed by more than 3 trillion points in circulation, gives any listed token a readymade rewards and redemption infrastructure that a crypto-only platform cannot easily replicate. For SHIB specifically, this means the token is no longer a trading-screen curiosity inside Rakuten’s app. It is a campaign prop, a souvenir coin, a reward tier, and a future payment option.

The breadth puts the meme coin in front of consumers in many formats at once. SHIB’s presence inside Rakuten now spans rewards, merchandise, and payment rails.

Mercari Is Already There

Rakuten is not the only major Japanese consumer brand pulling SHIB into its app. U.Today reported that Mercari, the country’s largest consumer-to-consumer marketplace, has integrated SHIB trading into its crypto arm, Mercoin. Both companies now compete for the same pool of first-time Japanese crypto buyers.

On Mercoin, 23 million Mercari customers can buy SHIB from as little as 1 yen, using loyalty points or proceeds from selling second-hand goods. According to Mercoin’s financial reporting, this approach attracted 4 million users, about 30% of all crypto accounts in Japan, with 85% of them new to digital assets.

That footprint gives Mercari a head start on SHIB as a retail gateway in Japan. Mercoin’s onboarding model relies on low minimums, in-app loyalty redemption, and second-hand-goods proceeds. The Photo Contest 2026 and the trading-reward ladder are Rakuten’s first moves toward the same kind of consumer-facing funnel. Both campaigns aim at the same audience: shoppers who already use Rakuten Pay and have never opened a crypto account.

For a group that already has 44 million payment-app users, the campaign targets an audience most crypto-only exchanges cannot reach. The souvenir coin is the visible product, and the trading-reward ladder is the funnel into actual SHIB buying and holding.

Why Japan Is Suddenly Open to Meme Coins

The Rakuten and Mercari expansions are possible because Japan’s regulator cleared the runway. U.Today reported that the Japan Virtual and Crypto Assets Exchange Association (JVCEA) added SHIB to its official Green List of approved assets in November 2025, the formal step that lets licensed exchanges list and promote the token.

The legislative picture shifted again on June 11. The Japan Times reported that Japan’s Lower House passed a bill classifying crypto assets as financial instruments, putting them under the same regulatory framework as stocks. The bill sets up lower taxes, stricter trading rules, and a path to exchange-traded funds.

The bill is expected to take effect next year after going through the Upper House. For a regulated consumer brand, Green List approval and a clearer securities-style framework provide the policy backdrop for running meme-coin souvenir giveaways as routine retail promotions. Read the Japan crypto-as-financial-instruments bill for the legislative details on lower taxes and exchange-traded funds.

1. November 2025: JVCEA adds SHIB to Japan’s official Green List of approved crypto assets.
2. Earlier in 2026: Rakuten Wallet adds SHIB and DOGE to its supported digital assets.
3. Photo Contest 2026: Rakuten Wallet gives SHIB and DOGE to selected users who post dog photos on social media.
4. June 11, 2026: Japan’s Lower House passes a bill classifying crypto assets as financial instruments.
5. June 25, 2026: Rakuten Wallet announces a physical SHIB Real Coin and tiered trading-reward campaign.

SHIB’s Price Hasn’t Gotten the Memo

The marketing reach and the price action are running in opposite directions. Crypto.news reported on June 25 that SHIB traded near $0.0000043 to $0.0000044, with the token down more than 9% for the week.

The losses extend further back. SHIB was down more than 20% over the prior month as broader meme-coin sentiment stayed weak. Market capitalisation sat near $2.5 billion to $2.6 billion, with 24-hour trading volume around $74 million to $80 million.

Both figures sit far below SHIB’s October 2021 all-time high of $0.0000862. The token has not approached that level in any of the campaigns that have followed, with the most recent Japanese retail push failing to lift SHIB out of its multi-year drawdown.

The price action shows that retail campaigns do not automatically change market direction. SHIB still trades with the broader meme-coin market, where risk appetite, liquidity, and Bitcoin’s trend drive short-term moves. Even sustained retail pushes from major consumer brands have not lifted the token out of its multi-year range. For SHIB holders watching from outside Rakuten’s app, the parallel data on SHIB exchange reserves climbing back to 80 trillion tokens shows whales still moving supply onto centralised venues, the kind of pattern that runs counter to a sustained price recovery.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the SHIB souvenir coin?

Rakuten Wallet confirmed on June 25 that it is producing a physical Shiba Inu coin for its Real Coin series, joining existing Bitcoin, Ethereum, and XRP replicas. The coin is merchandise to be handed out at offline event booths, not a blockchain-based digital asset. Rakuten Wallet has not announced a release date.

How do Rakuten Wallet SHIB trading rewards work?

Users who trade more than 30,000 yen in spot crypto on Rakuten Wallet can receive 500,000 SHIB, worth about 500 yen. Users who trade more than 100,000 yen can receive an additional 1,000,000 SHIB, worth about 1,000 yen, with a maximum combined payout of 1.5 million SHIB.

Why is Rakuten pushing SHIB in Japan now?

Japan’s regulator, the JVCEA, added SHIB to its Green List of approved assets in November 2025. A June 11 bill in the Lower House moved to classify crypto assets as financial instruments, a step that would bring them under the same regulatory framework as stocks. Rakuten’s wider group already routes XRP through loyalty points and QR payments. Competitor Mercari has used SHIB inside its consumer-to-consumer marketplace since 2025, pulling in about 30 percent of Japan’s crypto accounts.

When will the physical SHIB coin be released?

Rakuten Wallet has not confirmed a release date. The June 25 announcement said the coin is currently in production and asked followers to look forward to its completion. Distribution will run through the same offline event booths that hosted the earlier BTC, ETH, and XRP replicas.

Is SHIB price up or down during this campaign?

SHIB was down more than 9 percent for the week ending June 25 and more than 20 percent over the prior month, trading near $0.0000043 to $0.0000044. The token remains far below its October 2021 all-time high of $0.0000862.

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice. Cryptocurrency prices are highly volatile, and readers should consult a qualified financial professional before making any investment decisions. Figures cited are accurate as of publication.