Japans recovery from its decades-long economic slump could have major consequences for Bitcoin and global risk markets. After the countrys asset bubble collapsed in the early 1990s, the Bank of Japan (BOJ) kept interest rates near zero from 1999 and eventually introduced negative rates in 2016. That era of ultra-cheap borrowing helped fuel the global yen carry trade. Investors could borrow yen at minimal cost and move the money into higher-yielding assets, including US bonds, technology stocks and, eventually, cryptocurrencies. Bitcoins rise therefore coincided with decades of unusually loose… Read more






