Bitcoin gains popularity in Japan as Yen’s volatility escalates

Jul 21, 2023 | News On Japan

TOKYO - Bitcoin has found a new home in Japan. Since the Federal Reserve (Fed) began its aggressive interest rate hike campaign in March 2022, the Japanese yen has significantly depreciated.

The Japanese Yen has experienced some of the most severe swings in exchange rates in history.

The volatility has traders on Japan-focused digital asset exchanges turning to bitcoin (BTC), the world’s most valuable crypto by market cap, which is widely regarded as a hedge against conventional finance.

According to data gathered by Paris-based Kaiko, the share of Bitcoin transaction volume on Japanese exchanges grew from 69% to 80% in the first six months of 2023. The entire trading volume on Japanese exchanges was $4 billion in June, representing a 60% increase year to date.

This year, the bitcoin-Japanese yen (BTC/JPY) pair’s proportion of total volume in bitcoin-fiat trading pairs went up from 4% to 11%.

Bitcoin is commonly regarded as digital gold and a hedge against traditional Finance and fiat currencies, which are said to lack intrinsic or fixed value and are not supported by tangible assets.

Historically, citizens of nations plagued by inflation and fiat currency volatility have embraced digital assets. ...continue reading

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