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According to market news, the cryptocurrency market weakened overall on Friday, with BTC hovering around $77,800, and the upward trend that started at $65,000 since Wednesday has clearly slowed down; ETH is reported at $2,300, with a 24-hour decline of about 0.8%, underperforming BTC.The market pressure mainly comes from two aspects: first, Japan's corporate service price index rose 3.1% year-on-year in March, exceeding expectations, and core inflation is also accelerating upward. The market expects the Bank of Japan may signal an interest rate hike at the next policy meeting, and a stronger yen could trigger the unwinding of carry trades in global risk assets; second, the ongoing war in Iran continues to disrupt oil transportation in the Strait of Hormuz, with WTI crude oil futures rising over 40% to $96 per barrel since the outbreak of the war. The U.S. Pentagon warns that clearing mines will take at least six months, and global inflationary pressures may persist, further compressing the Federal Reserve's space for interest rate cuts.

According to market news, at the "9th BCCC Collaborative Day" held on April 21, 2026, Shigeru Shimizu, the head of the Risk Analysis Division of the Financial Services Agency (FSA) of Japan, delivered a special speech revealing significant progress in cryptocurrency regulation. The FSA has submitted a bill to the extraordinary Diet, proposing to transition cryptocurrencies from the Payment Services Act to the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act, mainly involving four core aspects: regulations on information disclosure, the establishment of new classifications for independent operators, strengthening penalties for unregistered operators, and preparing regulations against insider trading.At the same time, the FSA is advancing three "Payment Innovation Projects (PIP)" empirical experiments: first, a cross-border payment trial using yen stablecoins involving three major banks; second, on-chain settlement of securities such as government bonds, corporate bonds, and stocks based on blockchain, aiming for 24/7 continuous trading; third, an interbank tokenized deposit transfer experiment that just received support on April 3 of this month, which will be promoted in conjunction with the Bank of Japan's central bank digital currency tokenization sandbox project. Mr. Shimizu stated that blockchain has great potential in enhancing the convenience of financial services and diversifying products, and the FSA will continue to promote institutional development and practical support.

The Japan Securities Clearing Corporation (JSCC), a clearing institution under the Japan Exchange Group, has partnered with Mizuho Bank, Nomura Securities, and Digital Asset to launch a proof-of-concept trial aimed at exploring the use of blockchain technology for collateral management of Japanese Government Bonds (JGBs).According to a joint statement released on Monday, the trial will integrate existing systems from multiple institutions through the Canton Network to test the on-chain transfer and management of JGBs. This initiative aims to assess the feasibility of achieving real-time collateral trading while ensuring compliance with relevant financial instruments and trading laws. The trial will also investigate cross-border use cases involving clearinghouses, institutional investors, and other market participants.JSCC stated that this trial is part of a broader initiative under the Financial Services Agency's "Payment Innovation Project." As overseas markets like the United States make progress in testing similar infrastructures, advancing JGBs collateral management has become an "urgent priority." Previously, the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) in the U.S. launched a pilot to tokenize U.S. Treasury securities, and South Korea is also conducting related tests.

The Japanese yen stablecoin JPYC, issued and operated by JPYC, announced that it has completed approximately $17.62 million in additional financing in the second closing of its Series B round, bringing the total financing amount to approximately $28.93 million after the first closing. Participants include NCB Venture Capital, Metaplanet, Bank of Beijing, Yokohama Capital, and others.This round of funding will primarily be used for system and application development, recruitment of talent for business expansion, issuance and redemption of stablecoins, trading, payment and management-related businesses, as well as new strategic investments. JPYC stated that as of now, its cumulative issuance has exceeded approximately $13.21 million, currently supporting Avalanche, Ethereum, and Polygon, and is considering adding Kaia and Arc.

According to five sources familiar with the Bank of Japan's thinking, it is unlikely that the Bank of Japan will raise interest rates next week. The diminishing hope for a quick end to the Middle East conflict has left Japan's economic and price outlook still full of uncertainty. Although the final decision still carries some uncertainty and will depend on the progress of peace negotiations between the U.S. and Iran, the aforementioned sources stated that the central bank is inclined to maintain the status quo this month to allow more time to assess the impact of this conflict.One source said, "Given the current level of uncertainty, the Bank of Japan may consider it feasible to maintain the status quo this month." Another source expressed the same view. A third source stated that the Bank of Japan is unlikely to raise interest rates because the market has already fully priced in the possibility of no rate hike this month. These sources indicated that even if the Bank of Japan keeps interest rates unchanged next week, given the escalating inflationary pressures, the bank is likely to signal its readiness to raise rates as early as June.

According to Nikkei News, Japan has approved amendments to the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act (FIEA), classifying digital assets as financial instruments and prohibiting insider trading based on non-public information.

According to Jinshi reports, senior officials of the International Monetary Fund stated that our advice to the Bank of Japan is to rely on data and gradually begin to raise interest rates.

According to Jinshi reports, the US dollar against the Japanese yen (USD/JPY) has broken through 159, with an intraday increase of 0.03%.

According to monitoring by the cryptocurrency data agency Kaiko (@KaikoData), South Korea accounts for 30% of the global cryptocurrency trading volume, with altcoin trading making up as much as 85%, Bitcoin only accounting for 9%, and Ethereum at 6%, with a weekly trading volume of approximately $26 billion.In contrast, Japan's yen-denominated trading averages only between $2 billion and $3 billion per month, distributed across four exchanges, which is far less than South Korea. However, the depth of the Bitcoin market in Japan is 3 to 5 times that of South Korea, indicating that the liquidity quality in the Japanese market is superior.

The Governor of the Bank of Japan, Kazuo Ueda, has signaled a dovish stance, indicating a more cautious approach amid the uncertain impact of the Iran war on the Japanese economy, which has provided support for Bitcoin to break through $74,000.In recent years, the Bank of Japan's interest rate hikes have repeatedly caused turbulence in the crypto market. On August 5, 2024, an unexpected rate hike by the Bank of Japan triggered the unwinding of yen arbitrage trades, causing Bitcoin to drop from $64,000 to $49,000 within 48 hours. On the 28th of this month, the Bank of Japan will hold a monetary policy meeting.

The Japanese government has passed an amendment to the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act at a cabinet meeting. This amendment regulates cryptocurrency assets (virtual currencies) as financial instruments for the first time and prohibits insider trading and other activities based on undisclosed information. At the same time, it requires cryptocurrency issuers to disclose information annually to improve the healthy market environment. If this bill is passed in the current Diet session, it is expected to be implemented as early as the 2027 fiscal year.Previously, the Financial Services Agency of Japan primarily regulated cryptocurrencies based on their positioning as "means of payment" under the Funds Settlement Act. However, in recent years, the use of cryptocurrencies as investment tools has been increasing, leading to their inclusion in the regulatory framework of the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act. Additionally, the name of registered institutions will change from "cryptocurrency asset exchange operators" to "cryptocurrency asset trading operators."At the same time, the penalties will also be strengthened: for unregistered institutions engaged in sales, the maximum prison sentence will increase from 3 years to 10 years, and the fines will rise from the current maximum of 3 million yen to a maximum of 10 million yen. By increasing penalties, the stance on protecting investors will be further reinforced.

According to Jinshi reports, the US dollar against the Japanese yen (USD/JPY) has broken through 159, with an intraday increase of 0.31%.

According to Jinshi reports, former Executive Director of the Bank of Japan, Masaaki Kaizuka, stated that the Bank of Japan may raise the benchmark interest rate this month to avoid falling behind in controlling inflation.

According to CoinDesk, SBI Ripple Asia has completed the development of a token issuance platform based on the XRP Ledger and has registered as a prepaid payment tool issuer in Japan. Corporate users can now issue tokenized payment tools through this platform.

According to Jinshi reports, the US dollar against the Japanese yen (USD/JPY) has fallen more than 1% during the day, with the current exchange rate at 157.93.

According to Jinshi reports, the USD/JPY has risen above 160, with an intraday increase of 0.22%.

According to Alex Data, the total trading volume of the Japanese stablecoin JPYC has reached 136 million USD, of which 90 million USD was processed through the Polygon network. JPYC has a wide range of use cases on Polygon, primarily for payment services on platforms such as Tria, Daimo, and CurrencyCompetition.

According to CoinPost, the Japanese Financial Services Agency has officially announced the "Cybersecurity Enhancement Guidelines for Cryptocurrency Asset Exchange Businesses." This guideline is based on 18 opinions collected from February to March 2026, with the primary goal of protecting investor assets, proposing a three-tiered security enhancement framework of "self-help (individual businesses), mutual assistance (self-regulatory organizations), and public assistance (regulatory authorities)."The authorities pointed out that current cyber attacks have evolved from simple signature key theft to highly organized methods such as social engineering attacks and supply chain intrusions, making traditional cold wallet management insufficient to ensure security. Subsequently, the Financial Services Agency will implement threat-driven penetration testing (TLPT) on some major businesses and plans to revise operational guidelines to enhance cybersecurity personnel allocation and external audit standards.

On April 3, the KOSPI index in South Korea closed up 143.25 points, an increase of 2.74%, at 5377.3 points. The Nikkei 225 index closed up 660.22 points on April 3, an increase of 1.26%, at 53123.49 points.

According to Jinshi reports, U.S. stocks surged overnight, and the Japanese and South Korean stock markets followed suit. The KOSPI index in South Korea opened on April 1 (Wednesday) up 267.92 points, an increase of 5.3%, closing at 5,320.38 points. The Nikkei 225 index opened the same day up 883.17 points, an increase of 1.73%, closing at 51,946.89 points.