Yes, Rakuten pays out real money to its users through its cash-back rewards program. When shoppers make purchases through the Rakuten portal or browser extension at participating merchants, the company tracks the transaction and earns an affiliate commission from the retailer. Rakuten then shares a portion of that earned commission with the user as actual cash back. Once a user hits a minimum account threshold, these accumulated earnings are sent to them via their selected payment methods, typically PayPal or a physical bank check, which constitutes genuine, spendable legal tender that is not restricted to store credit.