Blockchain rewards platform MiL.k has coupled up with Seoul-based luxury-retail-space chain Shinsegae Duty-Free to offer loyalty points compatibility and management. 

The new association provides Shinsegae consumers to connect their existing rewards accounts to the MiL.k mobile application.

Adoption for “millions” of clients?

Once users interlink the accounts, they can reportedly trade their Shinsegae loyalty points for the in-house cryptocurrency named MLK, which recently trades at $0.19 per token. MLK, in turn, can be exchanged for reward points at other associating vendors, like Yanolja, a Korean travel accommodation platform.  Such alliances provide MiL.K to enhance the efficiency of loyalty points over the leisure, lifestyle, and travel sector, making it a more efficient endeavor.

Jayden Jo, the CEO of MiL.k, said in a statement that adding Shinsegae Duty-Free to his company’s network will also show “millions of customers” to the blockchain, thus driving to more prominent adoption across the Asia region.

The MiL.K platform itself is developed on Hyperledger Fabric and is compatible with ERC-20 tokens, Samuel Yun, the head of international business at Milk Partners, said in a statement describing why the startup depends on blockchain in the first place:

“By using blockchain, we can generate mutual credibility between service companies. Since all the transactions are written on ledgers and encrypted on the blockchain, service companies don’t have to worry about any data leakage and just leverage from the synergies within the alliance.”

“As for transaction fees for trading tokens within the platform, they are set at 1.5%.” It wouldn’t hurt our users since the minimum discount rate that the platform offers is 5% for all the reward purchases,” Yun said in a statement.

Similar use cases in the retail sector

Late in 2019, Japanese retail juggernaut Rakuten allowed its consumers to exchange their Rakuten Group loyalty points for three significant cryptocurrencies, particularly Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH) through its crypto exchange subsidiary. The move intended to boost cryptocurrency adoption and promote Rakuten’s loyalty program simultaneously.

Earlier that year, crypto exchange bitFlyer associated with technology services company Tpoint Japan to provide its Japanese consumers to trade their loyalty program points for Bitcoin and earn extra rewards for paying in crypto.