The yen is trading at a four-decade low, and Japanese companies are integrating crypto into their balance sheets to escape it.
SBI VC Trade said on Tuesday that corporate demand for Bitcoin and
Hedge funds became the most bearish on the yen since 2007, increasing bets on further losses to nearly 138,000 contracts as of June 30, according to CFTC data. The dollar is bought around 162 yen Wednesday morning in Asia.
The driving factor is the interest rate gap between a hawkish U.S. Fed and a still-far-behind Bank of Japan, the same gap that makes holding yen cash a loser and pushes companies to seek stronger assets.
SBI, the crypto arm of Tokyo-based SBI Holdings, noted that demand for its enterprise services has increased alongside companies that distribute Bitcoin or XRP through shareholder benefit programs.
This decision corresponds to a trend that the market has observed all month. Yen weakness has fueled the carry trade, where investors borrow cheaply in yen to buy higher-yielding assets elsewhere, and some of this flow now reaches crypto through regulated Japanese channels rather than offshore channels.
Bitcoin traded near $62,650 on Tuesday, up 6.1% for the week, according to CoinDesk data.
