Since Grab began rewarding riders for their everyday journeys, its loyalty program has become the beating heart of the largest consumer app in Southeast Asia. In November 2025, the program was rebranded from GrabRewards to GrabCoins, and from January 2026 it shifted to a unified earn model that stripped away membership tiers in favour of a single, transparent currency that members can spend instantly. By the first quarter of 2026, Grab had crossed 52 million monthly transacting users, a 16 percent increase year on year, and the company posted its first full year of net profit.[1][2]

As loyalty consultants, the Loyalty & Reward Co team have analysed the best coalition loyalty programs globally, and have identified that Grab really stands apart. Grab uses GrabCoins to reward almost every action a member takes across their entire digital economy, and has supported hundreds of thousands of merchants to plug into the same earning and redemption rails.

This article breaks down how GrabCoins works today, how members can earn and redeem for maximum value, and why Grab’s coalition architecture makes this one of the most instructive case studies in super app loyalty design.

A short history of Grab and its loyalty currency

Grab started in 2012 as a taxi-booking app called MyTeksi, founded by Anthony Tan and Tan Hooi Ling in Kuala Lumpur with seed capital that included 25,000 dollars from a Harvard Business School venture competition.[3] The original mission was narrow and urgent, which was to make taxi rides safer in a market where street hailing carried real risk. The app rebranded to Grab in 2016, absorbed Uber’s Southeast Asian operations in 2018, and steadily layered on food delivery, grocery, parcels, payments, lending, insurance and digital banking. Today Grab operates across eight countries and more than 480 cities, and it lists on the NASDAQ under the ticker GRAB.[3][4]

The loyalty program grew alongside this expansion. The modern coalition version of GrabRewards launched in August 2017, when Grab drew more than 150 top-tier merchants into a single rewards ecosystem and described it as the largest customer loyalty program across Southeast Asia.[5] The logic was simple and powerful. A dollar spent with Grab would be worth more than a dollar spent elsewhere, because every transaction earned a currency that could be redeemed across a growing network of partners. In November 2025, Grab evolved that program into GrabCoins, with the stated goal of making earning and saving more tangible and immediate.[6]

How GrabCoins works

GrabCoins is a currency-based loyalty program design embedded directly in the Grab app. The program is free to join and is structured around a single earn rate with instant redemption. Here is how it works:

• One unified currency: GrabCoins
• Earn almost everywhere on Grab. Members earn on Food, Delivery, Transport, Express and Mart, as well as through GrabPay, PayLater and the group’s digital banks GXS Bank and GXBank in select markets.[6]
• Redeem instantly. GrabCoins offset the bill at checkout on GrabFood and GrabMart through a simple toggle, or appear under Offers on the booking screen. Redemption no longer requires saving up for a fixed-value voucher.[6]
• Available across the region. The program is live in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, Cambodia, Myanmar and Vietnam, where it is called GrabXu. Indonesia runs a separate currency, OVO Points, reflecting Grab’s ownership of the OVO wallet in that market.[6][7]

The coalition network, and why it matters

The single most distinctive feature of GrabCoins is its coalition architecture. Rather than confining earning and redemption to Grab’s own first-party services, Grab built the infrastructure that allows almost any merchant to plug into the same loyalty currency. The result is hundreds of thousands of earning and redemption points spread across the region’s restaurants, supermarkets, pharmacies, convenience stores and lifestyle brands.

How merchants plug in

Grab have made it easy for merchants to joint he coalition thanks to the GrabPay wallet and the QR rail that sits behind it. A merchant signs up through the GrabMerchant onboarding flow, accepts GrabPay at the counter through a QR code, and immediately becomes an earning point in the network. Every GrabPay transaction earns the member GrabCoins, and the member can offset future bills with the same currency.[10] Popular retailers including Watsons and Starbucks accept GrabPay in store, which turns ordinary offline shopping into a GrabCoins-earning event.[10]

Grab has been explicit about the platform ambition behind this. Describing the integration of its grocery chain Jaya Grocer, the company said it was excited to bring its loyalty platform to other retailers and supermarket operators, allowing them to tap its growing user base and track user behaviour within the Grab platform.[11] In other words, the loyalty currency is offered to third parties as infrastructure. A merchant does not need to build its own program, issue its own card, or maintain its own points engine, and very little administration is required

Owned and partner nodes working together

Grab strengthened this network through acquisition as well as partnership. It took a majority stake in Jaya Grocer in 2022 and acquired the East Malaysian chain Everrise in 2025, then wired both into the loyalty program so that in-store grocery purchases earn and redeem GrabCoins directly at the till.[11][12] Crucially, these offline grocery transactions are recorded in the Grab app even when a shopper pays with cash, which is why Grab counts them within its monthly transacting user base.[1] At the same time, the program connects outward to aspirational partners. Members can convert GrabCoins into airline miles such as Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer, and historic transfer relationships with hotel programs such as Accor ALL have allowed members to move value between ecosystems.[13][14]

This combination of owned nodes, payment-rail merchants and external transfer partners is what gives GrabCoins the reach of a coalition program with the data advantages of a closed loop. The currency is earned in a thousand small everyday moments and can be redeemed instantly, which keeps it circulating inside the ecosystem rather than leaking out.

Getting started with GrabCoins

Joining is effortless because membership is bundled into the Grab account itself. There is no separate sign-up:

• Download or update the app: GrabCoins requires the Grab app updated to version 5.380.0 or newer.
• Find your balance: Tap the avatar or the gold GrabCoins icon in the top right corner of the home screen, then open the GrabCoins homepage to see your balance, your earning opportunities and your redemption options in one place.[15]
• Start transacting: Any eligible Grab transaction begins earning immediately. There is no minimum spend and no qualification period.

Earning GrabCoins

Earning is designed to reward both spending and specific behaviours. There are two broad ways to accumulate GrabCoins:

Base earning on transactions

Members earn a standardised rate on completed purchases and bookings across Grab services and payment products. Rates are expressed locally. In Thailand, for example, GrabUnlimited subscribers earn 1 GrabCoin for every 10 baht spent across services.[16] In Malaysia the published value benchmark is 15 GrabCoins to roughly 10 sen, and in Singapore the working conversion is one Singapore dollar to 500 GrabCoins.[13][17]

Action-based bonus earning

On top of base earn, Grab includes bonus earn opportunities tied to specific everyday actions. Recent published examples across markets include:

• Host a Group Order. Hosting a GrabFood group order earns the host a bonus, in some markets 5 percent back in GrabCoins on the full order value.[15][18]
• Order in the breakfast window. Ordering GrabFood during the morning window earns a fixed bonus in several markets.[15]
• Order from featured merchants. Orders from Superstar, Grab Signatures or Only on Grab merchants earn elevated rates, often 5 percent back.[18]
• Pay cashless. Paying with GrabPay at partner merchants earns 0.3 percent back plus a chance to win a large GrabCoins prize, and spending with GXS Bank on Grab earns 0.6 percent back.[18]
• Travel and ride bonuses. Airport rides, premium and electric vehicle bookings, and advance bookings all carry bonus earning, and spending with the GXS Debit Card on overseas Grab services earns 2 percent back.[18]
• Power Up challenges. A monthly challenge in Singapore earns members 5 percent back in GrabCoins for completing set activities.[18]

Earning while you travel

Because GrabCoins is a regional currency, members continue to earn when they use Grab in another participating country, an important feature when travel is prolific across Asia. The amount earned abroad follows the earn rate of the country being visited, which makes the currency genuinely useful for the millions of people who move between Southeast Asian cities for work and leisure.[7]

Redeeming GrabCoins

GrabCoins can be spent instantly and incrementally:

Instant checkout offset

The primary redemption method is a toggle on the GrabFood and GrabMart checkout page. Tapping it applies GrabCoins to lower the total payable amount on the spot, and the same option is being extended to rides.[6] Minimum balances to redeem are low and locally set, for example 50 GrabCoins in Singapore, 15 GrabCoins in Malaysia and 23 GrabCoins in Myanmar, each roughly equivalent to a small fraction of local currency.[13][17][7] This low threshold means members can convert even a tiny balance into a real saving rather than watching points sit idle.

The redemption catalogue

For members who prefer to save toward something larger, the GrabCoins rewards catalogue is available. Members can redeem ride, food and partner vouchers from brands such as amazon.sg and Cold Storage, convert to KrisFlyer miles, and in some markets access partner rewards spanning food and beverage, entertainment, retail, hospitality, wellness, ticketing, insurance and charitable donations.[13][16] In Thailand the published redemption rate is 20 GrabCoins per baht of Grab service discount, an improvement on the previous rate of 22 points per baht.[16]

Tips to maximise value

Drawing on Loyalty & Reward Co’s experience evaluating coalition and super app programs, here are practical ways to extract more value from GrabCoins:

• Redeem little and often. Because GrabCoins expire six months after the month they are earned, hoarding for a big redemption is risky. Use the checkout toggle regularly so value is realised before it lapses.[7]
• Stack action bonuses. Combine a base-earning transaction with an active bonus such as a breakfast order, a group order, or a Power Up challenge. Many bonuses apply regardless of payment method, so check the GrabCoins homepage before ordering.[18]
• Pay through the ecosystem. Where it suits you, paying with GrabPay, a GXS account or the GX or GXS Debit Card unlocks additional percentage earning, including elevated rates on overseas Grab spend.[18]
• Earn in store. Treat ordinary shopping at GrabPay-accepting merchants, and grocery runs at Jaya Grocer or Everrise, as earning events rather than separate from your Grab activity.[10][12]
• Use it when you travel. Keep earning and redeeming on Grab in other participating countries, remembering that the rate follows the country you are visiting.[7]

Common issues and solutions

• GrabCoins toggle not appearing. The instant redemption toggle only shows on an updated app. Ensure the Grab app is on version 5.380.0 or newer to access GrabCoins features and the GrabCoins homepage.[6]
• Points expired unexpectedly. From 1 January 2026, GrabCoins expire six months from the month they are earned, so coins earned in January 2026 expired at the end of July 2026. Redeem regularly to avoid losing value.[7]
• Cannot earn in Indonesia. Indonesia is not part of the GrabCoins network. It uses OVO Points, which follow a separate twelve month expiry from the last transaction.[7][19]
• Tier benefits disappeared. The Member, Silver, Gold and Platinum tiers were discontinued from 19 February 2026 and replaced with a unified earn rate plus action-based bonuses. There is no longer a status to maintain.[9]

The psychology of GrabCoins

The behavioural design of GrabCoins is worth examining, and several established principles from the academic loyalty literature help explain why the loyalty program is so effective in driving memebr engagement:

Habit formation across a daily app

Grab operates in some of the highest-frequency categories that exist, which are transport, food and groceries. Research by Wood and Neal (2007) on the habit-goal interface demonstrates that loyalty programs can drive recursive purchases that harden into habitual consumption, and that habits are triggered by environmental cues such as opening an app.[20] By embedding GrabCoins inside the app a member already opens up to several times a day, and by surfacing earning opportunities on the GrabCoins homepage, Grab turns the app itself into the cue in the habit loop. Earning becomes automatic rather than deliberate.

Mental accounting and a non-fungible currency

Thaler’s work on mental accounting (1999) shows that people do not treat all money as interchangeable. Funds received from a particular source tend to be earmarked for spending back with that source.[21] GrabCoins exploits this directly. A coin earned on a Grab ride is psychologically tagged for spending on Grab, which increases the probability that the value returns to the ecosystem rather than leaking to a competitor. The shift to frequent, small, instantly redeemable amounts also aligns with the windfall principle, where small unexpected gains carry the highest propensity to be spent quickly.

The endowment effect and an instantly visible balance

The endowment effect, first identified by Thaler (1980), describes how people overvalue what they already own.[22] By converting points to coins on a one for one basis and displaying the balance prominently behind a gold icon on the home screen, Grab reinforces a sense of ownership over accumulated value. Members are reluctant to let an owned balance expire, which the six month window gently activates without creating excessive urgency.

Competition across a coalition of programs

The coalition structure introduces a subtle dynamic that academic research has only recently mapped. Khodakarami, Petersen and Venkatesan (2024), studying customer behaviour across six competing restaurant loyalty programs, found that progress toward a reward at one firm can inhibit purchasing at a competitor through a goal shielding effect.[23] Grab’s design neutralises this risk by collapsing many merchants into one shared currency. Instead of members splitting their attention and effort across rival programs, a single GrabCoins balance unifies the goal, so engagement at any participating merchant reinforces engagement with the whole network rather than competing against it.

How does it rate against Loyalty & Reward Co’s Essential Eight Principles?

As a global loyalty consulting company, Loyalty & Reward Co has developed the Essential Eight principles. These are elements which appear in all best-practice loyalty programs. Here is how GrabCoins rates against each one.

Is it Simple?

One unified currency, a one for one conversion, a single checkout toggle for redemption, and the removal of four membership tiers all reduce cognitive load. A new member can understand the core proposition in moments. The main residual complexity is the variation in earn and redemption rates between countries, which is unavoidable for a regional currency operating across different economies.

Is it Valuable?

The program delivers strong perceived value through instant, incremental redemption. Low minimum thresholds mean even small balances translate into real savings on the next order, and action-based bonuses of up to 5 percent back on featured activity are competitive within the sector.[18] The breadth of redemption options, from instant checkout offset to airline miles, supports both everyday and aspirational value.

Is it Stimulating?

GrabCoins scores well on stimulation. The phased rollout of new earning actions, the personalised GrabCoins homepage, monthly Power Up challenges, and chance-based prizes such as the opportunity to win 25,000 GrabCoins all create variety and anticipation.[18] The constant refresh of earning opportunities is a deliberate engagement mechanic.

Is it Emotional?

The emotional dimension is the program’s most developmental area. The proposition is highly functional and convenience-led, which suits the everyday nature of the categories. Grab’s broader mission narrative around economic opportunity and financial inclusion across Southeast Asia provides emotional foundations the loyalty currency could draw on more deliberately than it currently does.

Is it Complementary?

This is a standout strength. GrabCoins integrates tightly with the entire Grab ecosystem, spanning transport, food, mart, express, payments, lending and digital banking, and extends outward to a coalition of third-party merchants through the GrabPay rail. Earning and redemption flow seamlessly across owned services, partner merchants and external transfer partners.[6][10]

Is it Differentiating?

GrabCoins is highly differentiated by its coalition reach. Few loyalty currencies can be earned and redeemed across ride-hailing, food delivery, groceries, pharmacies, payments and banking inside a single app, with hundreds of thousands of merchant nodes. The infrastructure approach, where merchants plug into the currency rather than building their own program, is a genuine structural advantage that pure-play brand programs cannot easily match.[11]

Is it Cost-Effective?

The program demonstrates strong cost discipline. Grab delivered its first full year of net profit in 2025 while operating this currency at scale, and the move to instant low-value redemption increases the frequency with which liability is discharged in small amounts that drive incremental behaviour.[1] Recording offline grocery transactions inside the app also turns loyalty into a data asset that supports advertising and lending monetisation, improving the overall economics.

Is it Evolving?

Grab are continuing changing and improving the program to better cater to member needs and support the coalition of merchants. The gamified non-transactional earn opportunities are regulalry refreshes, while spend-based bonus points offers are constantly rotated, new merchants are joining the program all the time, keeping it fresh and worth checking on often.

Conclusion

GrabCoins is one of the most ambitious and commercially coherent loyalty currencies in the world. From a narrow ride-hailing reward, it has become the loyalty layer of an entire digital economy, earned across almost every action a member takes and redeemable instantly across a coalition that spans owned services, payment-rail merchants and external partners. The 2025 rebrand and the 2026 shift to a unified, tier-free model traded aspirational status for universal clarity and instant value, with grab anticipating that frequency and simplicity will drive deeper engagement than hierarchy.

The program’s strength lies in its coalition infrastructure. By building rails that let any merchant plug into a single shared currency, Grab has created hundreds of thousands of earning and redemption points across six markets and counting, and unified what would otherwise be a fragmented landscape of competing programs into one balance that members are motivated to grow and spend. The main opportunity ahead is emotional depth, building on Grab’s powerful regional mission to add brand connection to an already formidable functional proposition.

As loyalty experts, we rate GrabCoins as a best-in-class super app and coalition program, and one of the clearest demonstrations anywhere of how loyalty can function as shared infrastructure rather than a single-brand reward.

References

[1] Grab Holdings Limited. (2026). Grab Reports Fourth Quarter and 2025 Results with First Full Year Net Profit. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0001855612/000185561226000011/a2025q4 -earningspressrelea.htm

[2] The Motley Fool. (2026). Grab (GRAB) Q1 2026 Earnings Call Transcript. https://www.fool.com/earnings/call-transcripts/2026/05/05/grab-grab-q1-2026-earnings-call-transcript/

[3] Wikipedia. (2026). Grab (company). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grab

[4] TechNode Global. (2023). Jaya Grocer launches membership program integrated with Grab. https://technode.global/2023/03/03/jaya-grocer-launches-membership-integrated-with-grab/

[5] Grab. (2017). Grab launches the new GrabRewards, SEA’s largest loyalty programme. https://www.grab.com/sg/press/tech-product/grab-launches-the-new-grabrewards-seas-largest-loyalty-programme/

[6] Grab. (2025). GrabRewards is now GrabCoins. Here’s what’s new. https://www.grab.com/inside-grab/stories/grabrewards-grabcoins-earn-savings-redeem/

[7] Grab Myanmar. (2026). Instant savings with GrabCoins. https://www.grab.com/mm/en/grabcoins/

[8] Seedly. (2023). GrabRewards Grab Points changes. https://blog.seedly.sg/grabrewards-grab-points-changes/

[9] Grab Myanmar. (2026). Instant savings with GrabCoins (tier discontinuation notice). https://www.grab.com/mm/en/grabcoins/

[10] Antom. (2026). Understanding GrabPay Wallet, a comprehensive payments overview. https://knowledge.antom.com/understanding-grabpay-wallet

[11] Grab. (2025). Offline to online, giving Jaya Grocer supermarket its digital wings. https://www.grab.com/inside-grab/stories/offline-to-online-giving-jaya-grocer-supermarket-its-digital-wings/

[12] Grab Growth. (2025). Mapping Grab’s next move, a data-driven look at what it might acquire next. https://gabgrowth.com/p/mapping-grabs-next-move-a-data-driven

[13] Grab Singapore. (2026). Earning and saving just got easier. https://www.grab.com/sg/grabcoins/

[14] Accor ALL. (2025). GrabRewards partner page. https://all.accor.com/loyalty-program/partners/grab/index.en.shtml

[15] Grab. (2025). GrabCoins homepage and ways to earn. https://www.grab.com/inside-grab/stories/grabrewards-grabcoins-earn-savings-redeem/

[16] Grab Thailand. (2025). GrabRewards rebranded as GrabCoins offering a simpler, more convenient, and greater value. https://www.grab.com/th/en/press/others/grabcoins2025/

[17] Grab Malaysia. (2026). Earning and saving just got easier. https://www.grab.com/my/grabcoins/

[18] Grab Singapore. (2026). GrabCoins ways to earn, Power Up challenge and bonus rates. https://www.grab.com/sg/grabcoins/

[19] Grab Indonesia. (2025). GrabRewards, program loyalitas Grab (OVO Points expiry). https://www.grab.com/id/en/rewards/

[20] Loyalty & Reward Co. (2026). Habit formation in loyalty programs. https://loyaltyrewardco.com/

[21] Loyalty & Reward Co. (2026). Mental accounting and loyalty currency design. https://loyaltyrewardco.com/

[22] Loyalty & Reward Co. (2026). The endowment effect in loyalty programs. https://loyaltyrewardco.com/

[23] Khodakarami, F., Petersen, J. A. & Venkatesan, R. (2024). Customer Behavior Across Competitive Loyalty Programs. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 52, 892 to 913. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11747-023-00965-z