The yen is trading near its weakest level in four decades, and Japanese companies are moving crypto onto their balance sheets to escape it.
SBI VC Trade said on Tuesday that corporate demand for bitcoin and XRP is increasing as the currency’s decline pushes companies to diversify reserves beyond cash, with the exchange’s registered accounts passing 2 million, roughly double its number by 2025.
Hedge funds have turned the most bearish on the yen since 2007, raising bets on further losses to nearly 138,000 contracts a day. June 30, according to CFTC data. The dollar is buying around 162 yen from Asian morning hours on Wednesday.
The driver is the interest rate gap between a hawkish US Fed and a still lagging Bank of Japan, the same difference that makes holding yen cash a losing position and sends companies scrambling for harder assets.
SBI, the crypto arm of Tokyo-based SBI Holdings, noted that demand for its corporate service has grown along with companies handing out bitcoin or XRP through shareholder perk programs.
The move fits a pattern the market has seen all month. A weak yen has fueled the carry trade, where investors borrow cheaply in yen to buy higher-yielding assets elsewhere, and some of that flow now reaches crypto through regulated Japanese channels rather than offshore.
Bitcoin was trading near $62,650 on Tuesday, up 6.1% on the week, per CoinDesk data.
