Centrifuge, Janus Henderson Investors and SmartMedia Technologies have launched an institutional framework designed to move loyalty-program reserve management onchain. The initiative uses tokenized vaults to manage the financial assets backing loyalty points and rewards programs, connecting reserve management more directly with the systems used to issue and redeem those benefits.
According to an official announcement from Centrifuge, the framework combines SmartMedia Technologies’ loyalty infrastructure with investment strategies managed by Janus Henderson. Janus Henderson will manage portfolio allocations inside a Centrifuge vault, directing capital into the JTRSY Treasury strategy and JAAA, a tokenized strategy focused on AAA-rated collateralized loan obligations.
Tokenized Vaults Link Reserves to Loyalty Programs
SmartMedia Technologies provides loyalty infrastructure used by brands including Visa, FIFA and Samsung. Through the new structure, its SmartPoints protocol can connect programmable rewards directly with the financial reserves supporting them, creating a closer relationship between loyalty-point liabilities and the assets held against those obligations.
The underlying allocations will use Centrifuge’s JTRSY and JAAA products, which together managed approximately $1.5 billion in assets as of August 2026. The partnership brings institutional asset management into the reserve layer of loyalty programs, with Janus Henderson serving as sub-advisor and actively overseeing allocations within the vault.
The model targets a structural disconnect in an industry that issues approximately $300 billion in loyalty points annually. Traditionally, the reserves supporting those programs can be managed separately from the technology responsible for issuing points. Moving reserve assets into tokenized vaults is intended to make balances and portfolio activity more visible in real time.
That architecture also allows reserve movements to be linked programmatically with issuance and redemption activity. The objective is to reduce settlement delays and reporting opacity by connecting loyalty operations with their underlying financial backing, rather than treating treasury management as a separate administrative process.
Onchain Reserves Add Real-Time Visibility
Centrifuge said the framework can provide a transparent audit trail for reserve assets and support automated compliance processes. Onchain balances make it possible to verify reserve positions against loyalty-program obligations more directly, giving operators and counterparties greater visibility into how those assets are managed.
The deployment also extends the use of JTRSY and JAAA beyond conventional tokenized investment applications. Centrifuge is positioning the products as financial infrastructure that can sit behind consumer-facing systems, in this case supporting rewards programs without requiring end users to interact directly with blockchain technology.
For loyalty operators, the key test will be whether tighter integration between rewards infrastructure and reserve management produces measurable operational benefits. The partnership shifts tokenization from representing investment products alone toward managing the financial plumbing behind large-scale loyalty programs, with transparency and programmability at the center of the model.
