Crypto Chaos: Yen Plummets, Bitcoin Suffers and Regulators Shake Up the Board

Friday was chaotic in the markets. Japan threw a scare: a stimulus package of $135 billion (¥21.3 trillion) to ease inflation and energy costs. Obviously, traders went wild.

The Japanese Stimulus Problem

The yen has entered free fall — the lowest exchange rate in 10 months against the dollar. And it's not without reason: the market fears that all of this will force the Bank of Japan (BOJ) to raise interest rates faster than expected. Yield on 10-year bonds? It rose to 1.84% — the highest since 2008.

Minister Satsuki Katayama admitted to being “alarmed” by the situation. Governor Kazuo Ueda said they will soon discuss raising rates. If they do this, capital will leave the U.S. in reverse flows.

Bitcoin Takes a Hit

BTC fell to $84,191. And it makes sense: with a weak yen, traders were profiting by borrowing yen at low interest rates and putting them into risky assets (Bitcoin, for example). Now that's turned toxic. The profitability of this play has evaporated.

Good Side: Bitcoin Bar Opens in Washington

Just to breathe a little: the PubKey (bar themed around Bitcoin) opened a second unit in Washington D.C. Detail: Scott Bessent, Secretary of the Treasury, appeared at the event. Coincidence? Perhaps not. Owner Thomas Pacchia joked: “Bitcoin deserves an embassy in Washington.”

For context: the first store opened in NY in 2022. Trump visited in 2024 and bought food paying in Bitcoin via the Lightning Network.

Canada Approves First National Stablecoin Regime

The Canadian Parliament approved the 2025 budget with the country's first stablecoin governance framework. Simple rules:

• Issuers need to maintain sufficient reserves
• Clear resGate policy
• Robust risk management systems

The Bank of Canada oversees with $10 million in funding over two years.

Important detail: unlike the USA ( that want to ban unlicensed stablecoins ), Canada will only register and regulate the issuers. A smarter strategy for institutional adoption.

United Kingdom Discovers Massive Money Laundering Scheme

The British National Crime Agency revealed a scandal on Friday: it dismantled part of an international money laundering network using crypto linked to trafficking, arms smuggling, and evasion of sanctions against Russia.

The Setup:

• Small Kyrgyz bank (Keremet Bank) controlled by money launderers
• Acquired by Altair Holding linked to the Ukrainian George Rossi
• TGR network laundered illicit money in 28 cities in the United Kingdom
• Facilitated payments to Promsvyazbank (Russian state bank)

Numbers:

• £25 million ($33 million ) in cash/crypto seized
• 128 global arrests

It is Operation Destabilize. It shows how crypto continues to be a central tool in these cross-border schemes.

Moral of the story: macro volatility is pulling Bitcoin down, regulators are moving (some sensibly), but money laundering in crypto is still a dragon that no one has managed to tame.