japan

According to Catcher Predict monitoring, in the market prediction event "Japanese Tennis Open: Alcaraz vs. Mitchellson" on Polymarket, the option "Over 2.5" in the sub-market "Total Sets O/U 2.5" experienced a dramatic fluctuation in win rate, soaring from 28% an hour ago to the current 91% (a fluctuation of 63%). Please note the impact of related breaking news.

Japanese licensed cryptocurrency exchange Bitbank announced that SBI Holdings has completed its full subsidiary acquisition. Along with Bitbank repurchasing shares from MIXI and Ceres, all previously planned transactions have been realized, making Bitbank a 100% indirectly held subsidiary of SBI Holdings. The total consideration for the share acquisition and capital increase disclosed by SBI earlier is approximately 46.7 billion yen.Bitbank CEO Noriyuki Hirose will remain in position. The company stated that existing exchange services will not be affected by this transaction, and it will further expand its digital asset business relying on SBI's financial capabilities, customer base, and resources.

According to Bloomberg, global alternative asset management company Apollo Global Management will provide financing support for a $15 billion AI infrastructure project in Japan, further expanding its investment layout in the field of artificial intelligence.Apollo will act as a strategic investment and financing partner, participating in the project jointly promoted by UK developer RHAELM Holdings, Japan's largest power company Jera, and Dell Technologies. The project is located in Chiba Prefecture, Japan, and aims to build infrastructure to support AI computing needs.

According to a report by Reuters, the Japanese Ministry of Finance announced the establishment of the "On-Chain Correspondence Research Group," focusing on the feasibility study of real-time settlement for government bond transactions, with the first meeting scheduled for October 8.The research group will systematically analyze the advantages and disadvantages of blockchain real-time settlement around the current next-day settlement practice, with members including professors from the University of Tokyo, Waseda University, and other universities, as well as private strategists, and will involve the Bank of Japan and the Financial Services Agency for opinion exchange.Ministry officials pointed out that the United States already has MMF products that trade on the blockchain with government bonds as the underlying asset, which will serve as an important reference case. The research group plans to complete the organization of discussion points within the year.

Binance Pay will allow eligible overseas users to make payments using USDT to the majority of merchants that support PayPay during their visit to Japan starting Wednesday. The related service operates through the payment interoperability framework HIVEX, and merchants will still settle in Japanese yen.Binance stated that this is the first cryptocurrency payment service to access the PayPay merchant network through HIVEX, and related merchants do not need to apply separately or enable this feature individually. PayPay currently accepts payments at millions of locations across Japan, covering scenarios such as large chain stores, small and medium retailers, vending machines, taxis, and public transportation. HIVEX currently supports 9 types of overseas payment services, mainly from mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan.Japan received a total of 42.7 million international tourists in 2025; the number of visitors to Japan in the first 8 months of 2026 was 27.6 million, a year-on-year decrease of 2.7%.

According to CoinPost, the National Tax Agency of Japan officially launched the first upgrade of its next-generation core system KSK2 on September 24, marking the first upgrade in about 25 years. The new system centers around personal identification numbers (My Number) and corporate identification numbers, achieving unified management of individual and corporate data, and introducing AI technology to enhance the detection of improper declarations.Cryptocurrency traders and investors are particularly affected, as annual transaction reports submitted by exchanges, bank account deposit and withdrawal records, and information exchange with overseas tax authorities (CRS) data have all been included in the key analysis scope of AI.In addition, statements related to "cryptocurrency profits" on social media will also be compared with declaration data, significantly increasing the risk of tax investigations. The National Tax Agency has also integrated horizontal data between corporations and individuals, making it easier to identify inconsistencies in assets and income for investors who purchase cryptocurrencies through private company investments or with funds from gifts and inheritances.Industry insiders emphasize that properly retaining annual transaction reports and accurately and completely declaring them has become an urgent priority.

Citi announced the launch of its enterprise-grade tokenized deposit service, Citi Token Services, in Japan and the UAE. Japanese customers can transfer funds almost instantly to accounts in regions such as the United States, the United Kingdom, and Singapore that have been activated; the service supports US dollars in Japan, and cross-border transfers can be conducted year-round, 24/7.This service is backed by bank deposits and processed on a permissioned blockchain managed by Citi, requiring no new accounts or cryptocurrency wallets. The covered markets have expanded to seven, including the United States, Ireland, Hong Kong, Singapore, the United Kingdom, Japan, and the UAE.

The Financial Services Agency of Japan announced that its fintech proof-of-concept center's "Payment Enhancement Project" will support the fourth case, with applicants including TradeWaltz, NTT DATA, Mizuho Bank, Mitsubishi UFJ Bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, and Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking Corporation.This proof-of-concept program will commence in September 2026, verifying the practical responses to the use of stablecoins in trade transaction fund settlements and addressing related legal issues. After the experiment concludes, the Financial Services Agency of Japan will publish results and conclusions on topics such as compliance and regulatory responses, as well as interpretations of laws providing services to general users on its official website.

Japan's top foreign exchange official, Jun Mimura, stated that the market should recognize the "very clear" signals released last week by Japan and the United States regarding the yen issue, demonstrating a determination to take action against excessive declines.Japan's Finance Minister, Shunichi Suzuki, mentioned that U.S. President Trump expressed concerns about the weakness of the yen during a summit with Japanese Prime Minister, Sanae Takaichi. Jun Mimura emphasized that they will closely monitor market reactions and expressed dissatisfaction and unease regarding the recent yen trends.

According to a report by South Korea's Small and Medium Business News on September 28, industry insiders stated that SK Hynix has initiated the foundational engineering required for establishing a semiconductor factory in the Tohoku region of Japan. One insider mentioned that it is still unclear whether the project will be an independent factory or a joint venture with Kioxia, but local groundwork is underway, and SK Hynix has also requested domestic component suppliers in South Korea to expand their supply.The report noted that as of a month ago, SK Hynix's stance on building a memory semiconductor factory in Japan was still "under research," and they stated that "there are no specific decisions." In response to this news, SK Hynix indicated that the Japanese memory semiconductor factory is still in the research phase, with no further advancements at this time.The report also mentioned that SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won stated in August this year that they are studying the establishment of a joint venture memory semiconductor factory in Japan, with the Tohoku region subsequently seen as a strong candidate. The Tohoku region of Japan and Iwate Prefecture have gathered semiconductor and material component companies such as Kioxia's Kitakami factory, Japan Semiconductor, Ancor Technology, Denso, and Tokyo Electron.

The yield on Japan's 10-year government bonds rose by 10 basis points to 3.075%, the highest level since 1996. The yield curve increased across all maturities, with the 5-year yield rising by 9.5 basis points to 2.37%.The sell-off of U.S. Treasuries intensified, driven by strong economic data and weak demand at Treasury auctions, pushing U.S. bond yields to near twenty-year highs. Rising oil prices have heightened inflation concerns, reinforcing expectations for interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve.

As Japan ends its holiday, the risk of yen intervention has once again become the focus. The yen has fallen for two consecutive weeks, approaching the 160 mark. Strategists believe that the 160 mark will once again test Japan's tolerance for yen depreciation.Strategists at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia stated that if the USD/JPY breaks above 160, it will increase the likelihood of official intervention, especially considering that Japan has recently conducted a currency check.

According to a joint alert issued by the Japanese National Police Agency, FBI, ASD/ACSC, BND, and BfV, the North Korean-backed cyber attack organization "WaterPlum" (also known as Contagious Interview) targets job seekers by disguising itself as an AI, cryptocurrency, and NFT company to post fake job listings. This lures job seekers into downloading NPM packages containing malware such as BeaverTail, InvisibleFerret, and OtterCookie, which then steal cryptocurrency wallet information and confidential data.As of July 2026, the organization has infected over 30,000 devices in more than 100 countries and regions worldwide, stealing information from over 7,000 cryptocurrency wallets, with the wallets under its control receiving at least approximately 1.7 billion yen (about 10.71 million USD) in cryptocurrency. The Japanese National Police Agency has discovered and dismantled a "notebook farm" established by local "supporters" for the first time in the country, where North Korean IT laborers remotely control PCs within the supporters' residences to conduct business, with the related amount involved reaching several hundred million yen.The police and FBI assess that WaterPlum and some North Korean IT laborers are under the unified command of the 313 Bureau of the Ministry of Military Industry of the Workers' Party of Korea, with the profits directly flowing into North Korea's national funding pool. The police remind IT technicians and corporate issuers to remain vigilant and avoid executing third-party code in unverified environments.

On Friday, the Bank of Japan raised interest rates by 25 basis points as the market expected. After the announcement of the rate hike decision, the Japanese yen weakened against the US dollar and Bitcoin. The price of Bitcoin, priced in US dollars, remained basically stable.

The Japanese yen stablecoin issuer JPYC has issued a malfunction notice, announcing the emergency suspension of the JPYC issuance reservation service on the Ethereum network.The official statement indicates that this function is currently in a suspended state, and the technical team is urgently investigating the specific cause of the malfunction. JPYC apologizes to the affected users regarding this matter and promises to release updates through official channels as soon as the details are confirmed.

Mitul Kotecha, Head of Foreign Exchange and Emerging Markets Macro Strategy at Barclays Asia, stated that the Federal Reserve's interest rate hike decision makes a rate increase by the Bank of Japan almost inevitable. The yen has depreciated by more than 1.1% since the Federal Reserve's decision, while the dollar has appreciated by 0.7% against major trading partner currencies.

The Financial Services Agency of Japan announced the "2026 Fiscal Year Financial Administrative Guidelines," proposing to clarify the issues of on-chain finance in terms of technology, systems, and regulation through verification and dialogue between the public and private sectors, while ensuring user protection and the stability of the financial system, and to build a financial infrastructure that is both convenient and competitive.The Financial Services Agency of Japan will also promote the shortening and upgrading of securities settlement processes in conjunction with the development of asset tokenization, and plans to establish an on-chain financial forum aimed at the AI era to discuss the applications of digital finance, decentralized finance, and AI technology in the financial sector.

Market news: Japanese NAND giant Kioxia Holdings is considering raising $10 billion through an IPO in the United States.The company is in talks with Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, and JPMorgan Chase to seek more liquidity in the U.S.

On September 14, the Japanese stock market's real estate, retail, and IT service sectors performed actively. According to Gate platform's Japanese stock market data, Rand (8918) rose by 10.00%, currently reported at approximately 0.07 USD; Kobe Bussan (3038) increased by 6.35%, currently reported at approximately 21.00 USD; SHIFT (3697) saw an increase of 6.05%, currently reported at approximately 6.00 USD.