Japan's recent Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi announced a package of economic stimulus measures on Tuesday to ease the impact of inflation on households. Some crypto observers say this move could drive more capital into Bitcoin.
Stimulus measures include subsidies for electricity and gas fees in addition to regional subsidies to ease price pressures and encourage small and medium-sized businesses to boost wages.
BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes viewed the event as a precursor to more fiat money printing by Japan's central bank, a move that would speed up Bitcoin's (BTC) rise to $1 million.
“Translation: Let’s print money to present to people to assist with food and energy costs,” Hayes said in a post Tuesday
Source: Arthur Hayes
Meanwhile, the yen fell to a one-week low on Tuesday after Takaichi took office as Japan's first female prime minister, which was seen by investors as a mixed signal for the country's upcoming rate of interest decision, Reuters reported.
Takaichi's “pro-stimulus” stance raises recent hopes for a QE pivot from the Bank of Japan
Hayes had previously predicted that the Bank of Japan's shift to quantitative easing (QE) might be the following significant catalyst for Bitcoin and risk assets.
QE is the acquisition of bonds by central banks and the injection of cash into the economy to lower rates of interest and stimulate spending during difficult financial times.
The BOJ's next monetary policy meeting is scheduled for October 29. Most analysts expect the central bank to impose a 0.75% rate of interest hike by early 2026, with no clear consensus on the precise timing, Reuters reported on Monday.
The central bank is currently conducting quantitative tightening and there aren’t any clear plans to shift to QE until the goal inflation rate of two% is reached.
However, Takaichi's “pro-stimulus stance” could soon “push” Japan toward easing, with 80% of world banks already pursuing QE efforts, based on macro investment resource Milk Road Macro's Oct. 8 post.
Bitcoin whales turn bullish with fresh long positions after Bitcoin “descends” to $104,000
Meanwhile, whales, or major cryptocurrency investors, are signaling renewed interest in Bitcoin as Bitcoin price recovers from its decline to a four-month low of $104,000 on Friday.
Three whales returned to the Hyperliquid decentralized exchange on Wednesday, depositing tens of tens of millions of dollars to open leveraged long positions, which use “borrowed” funds to extend the scale of the investment.
Notably, whale wallet “0x3fce” increased its Bitcoin long position to $49.7 million, while whale wallet “0x89AB” opened a 6x leveraged long position value $14 million, blockchain data platform Lookonchain wrote in a Wednesday post.
