Japan’s First Program to Earn Cryptocurrency When Using Your Credit Card — Social Restaurant Review Service SynchroLife and Mitsubishi UFJ NICOS Start Proof-of-Concept Test
Using payment data for a new kind of patent pending marketing solution
JULY 25, 2019 — Tokyo, Japan
GINKAN Inc., the managing company of SynchroLife, the token economy based social restaurant review service in which users earn cryptocurrency for dining out, announced that it has partnered with Mitsubishi UFJ NICOS Co., Ltd. to run a proof-of-concept test campaign where credit card users can earn a percentage of their credit card bill cashback in cryptocurrency starting July 25, 2019. This is the first program of its kind in Japan(*). The campaign is valid for Mitsubishi UFJ NICOS Co., Ltd. employees that dine at Mitsubishi UFJ NICOS Co., Ltd. participating restaurants.
SynchroLife has filed a patent for the new marketing solution used in this proof-of-concept campaign (Application Number 2019–116381) which helps restaurants get customers.
GINKAN was selected as one of eight finalists for Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group’s MUFG Digital Accelerator Program Batch 4 in March 2019. This proof-of-concept campaign with Mitsubishi UFJ NICOS Co., Ltd. was planned during the four-month accelerator program.
* First in Japan to offer cashback cryptocurrency based on credit card statement data, as of July 22, 2019 as researched by GINKAN Inc.
Cashback Cryptocurrency After Using Credit Card
On July 1, 2019, SynchroLife launched a program that allows diners to earn 1%~5% (set individually by restaurants, with the maximum campaign rewards being 20%) of their dining bill cashback in SynchroCoin (SYC) cryptocurrency just by dining at participating restaurants. By reading a QR code at the restaurant during payment, users receive an amount of SynchroCoin directly in their SynchroLife in-app wallet based on the current rate of SynchroCoin. However this process is separate from payment, and diners and restaurant staff must complete the QR code step separate from actual payment.
During the proof-of-concept campaign with Mitsubishi UFJ NICOS Co., Ltd., the process for receiving cryptocurrency has been made simple and more convenient for both diners and restaurants.
When diners use their credit card to pay for a meal at participating restaurants, a percentage of their total bill from the credit card statement is automatically returned cashback as SynchroCoin (SYC) cryptocurrency. This allows users to receive cryptocurrency without scanning a QR code at checkout. By partnering with Mitsubishi UFJ NICOS Co., Ltd., users can both pay and earn rewards based on their total bill at the same time.
Using Payment Data for O2O Marketing
GINKAN Inc. and Mitsubishi UFJ NICOS Co., Ltd. aim to create a new marketing solution that offers benefits to SynchroLife users, SynchroLife participating restaurants, Mitsubishi UFJ NICOS credit card holders, and Mitsubishi UFJ NICOS credit card participating restaurants all at once, by utilizing the features and databases of each service.
Credit card users using SynchroLife can earn SynchroCoin (SYC) cryptocurrency rewards in addition to their usual credit card reward points. This is not only convenient for users, but encourages them to use their card more as well. Credit card participating restaurants can also expect to attract new customers upon becoming a SynchroLife participating restaurant.
GINKAN Inc. is already planning for additional partnership programs with Mitsubishi UFJ NICOS Co., Ltd. in the near future.
SynchroLife strives to create a social restaurant review platform where users can enjoy not only reviewing and discovering new restaurants, but also earning cryptocurrency — an experience never seen in restaurant review services up until now.
About SynchroLife
SynchroLife is the world’s first social restaurant discovery service that utilizes blockchain technology to reward quality reviewers with cryptocurrency rewards. SynchroLife also includes artificial intelligence features that help guide users to the best restaurants quickly, solving the problem of time-consuming restaurant search.
The SynchroLife mobile app is currently available for iOS and Android mobile devices in four languages (English, Japanese, Korean, Chinese) and over 155 countries. SynchroLife has over 190,000 reviews at 100,000 different restaurants. SynchroLife began as a social media service for restaurant reviews, and added “SynchroCoin” cryptocurrency rewards for trustworthy user reviews in August 2018.
Starting July 1, 2019, SynchroLife users can now also earn on average 1%~5% (set individually by restaurants, with the maximum campaign rewards being 20%) of their dining bill cashback in SynchroCoin cryptocurrency just by dining at participating restaurants. By reading a QR code at the restaurant during payment, users will receive an amount of SynchroCoin directly in their SynchroLife in-app wallet based on the current rate of SynchroCoin. SynchroLife is designed to benefit both diners and restaurants while helping to solve restaurant marketing problems. SynchroLife is also expanding its business into the fintech space by aiming to build a global token economy connected to the average consumer’s daily life — through food and dining out.
Recent SynchroLife Achievements
September 2018 –
・Won Fintech Category at the Plug and Play Japan Batch 1 EXPO (Demo Day)
March 2019 –
・Won Norinchukin Award at Financial Innovation Business Conference 2019
April 2019 –
・Selected as finalist for the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and Basque Culinary Center’s (BCC) First Global Gastronomy Tourism Startup Competition
June 2019 –
・Won 2nd Place at Nikkei FinTech Conference 2019 Startup Awards Pitch Battle
SynchroLife Mobile App
iPhone (For iPhone 5 and up, iOS 9 and up)
・https://itunes.apple.com/app/id557532449
Android (For Android 6.0 and up)
・https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=jp.co.synchrolife
Learn More About SynchroLife and SynchroCoin
・ Official Website: https://synchrolife.org/
・ Medium Blog: https://medium.com/synchrocoin
・ Telegram: https://t.me/synchrocoin
・ Twitter: https://twitter.com/synchrocoin
・ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/synchrocoin
About GINKAN
- Company Name: GINKAN, Inc.
- Address: LIFORK MINAMI AOYAMA N213, 1–12–3 Minami Aoyama, Minato-ku, Tokyo 107–0062 Japan
- Representative: CEO Tomochika Kamiya
- Established: December 2015
- Capital: 112,810,000 yen
- Website: http://ginkan.jp/index_en.html
About Mitsubishi UFJ NICOS
- Company Name: Mitsubishi UFJ NICOS Co., Ltd.
- Address: Akihabara UDX, 4 Chome-14–1 Sotokanda, Chiyoda City, Tokyo, Japan 101–0021
- Representative: CEO Hiraku Ishizuka
- Established: June 7, 1951 (Became Mitsubishi UFJ NICOS as of April 1, 2007)
- Capital: 109,312,000,000 yen (as of March 31, 2019)
- Website: http://www.cr.mufg.jp/
