Crypto trading surged on Japan’s Bitflyer on Monday as the Nikkei slipped, with the Tokyo-based exchange posting a bigger volume surge than global platforms such as Binance and Coinbase during a sharp sell-off in Asian stocks.
According to CoinGecko data, Bitflyer’s 24-hour trading volume is up 200%, compared to 112% on Coinbase and 75% on Binance. Activity on Korean exchanges was more subdued, with Upbit volumes up 27.1% and Bithumb up 49.0%.
The rise of cryptocurrency trading in Japan coincided with a sharp decline in regional stocks, as Japan’s Nikkei slipped alongside declines in Korea and Taiwan amid an unprecedented rise in oil prices. Asian countries, including Japan, are heavily dependent on oil passing through the Strait of Hormuz, which has seen disruptions due to the ongoing war in Iran.
Japanese traders likely turned to BTC more aggressively during the stock crisis, while Korean flows were weaker.
Price developments in regional crypto markets reflect a similar trend. Data from TradingView shows that bitcoin rose about 2.05% against the Japanese yen during Asian trading hours, compared to about 1.86% against the U.S. dollar and about 1.64% against the Korean won.
The stronger performance in yen partly reflects currency movements as the yen has weakened against the dollar, but it also aligns with increased activity on Japanese exchanges as regional stocks are sold.
This increase in cryptocurrency trading occurred while Asian stock markets were under severe pressure.
Damage was not evenly distributed across the region as of Monday’s opening. South Korea’s Kospi led the decline, falling about 8% and triggering a circuit breaker, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell about 6.5%. Taiwan’s Taiex also fell sharply, losing around 4.9%.
These moves are among the steepest post-pandemic declines for all three markets, although they remain smaller than the double-digit drops seen during the global financial crisis and pandemic-driven sell-off of March 2020.
The South Korean market tends to react more violently to oil shocks due to the country’s heavy dependence on energy imports.
The country consumes around 2.5 million barrels of crude per day and imports almost all of it, around 70% of which comes from the Middle East. The International Energy Agency has described South Korea as “an ‘energy island’ with no interconnections” and one of the most energy-intensive economies in the OECD.
Taiwan faces similar constraints, relying on imported energy for about 97% of its supply and almost all of its crude oil consumption.
However, unlike South Korea, Taiwan has diversified its crude supplies in recent years. Middle Eastern oil now accounts for about 35% of Taiwan’s imports, down sharply from more than 70% over the past decade, with the United States becoming a major supplier.
The Japanese market also fell sharply, but was somewhat more resilient. Although the country remains heavily dependent on imported energy, the Nikkei index includes a broader range of industrial, financial and consumer companies, which can moderate volatility compared to the more concentrated and technology-heavy indexes of South Korea and Taiwan.
This relative resilience may also help explain why cryptocurrency trading activity increased on Japanese exchanges such as Bitflyer even as stocks declined, with traders repositioning into digital assets while the region’s traditional markets sold off.
All eyes now turn to Tuesday’s open in Tokyo, where traders will monitor whether rising crypto volumes on Bitflyer and other Japanese exchanges hold up or fade as stock markets attempt to stabilize.
