japanese

According to Gate quotes, the Japanese and South Korean stock markets opened higher today but the gains have slightly retreated.The South Korean KOSPI opened up 1.80% to 5653.99 points, currently reported at 5623.72 points, with an intraday increase of 1.25%; KOSDAQ opened up 1.49%. The memory chip sector continues to lead the gains, with Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix both rising over 2%. The South Korean stock market saw a significant drop yesterday, triggering a circuit breaker, and today is experiencing a recovery rebound. The Japanese Nikkei 225 opened up 0.78% to 64925.29 points, briefly surging to 1% after opening, and is currently maintaining a high-level fluctuation.

According to Gate market data, the Nikkei 225 index closed down 3318.34 points on October 15, with a decline of 4.90%, reporting at 64425.95 points. The South Korean KOSPI index also closed down 454.54 points on the same day, with a decline of 7.56%, reporting at 5554.27 points.During the trading session, the South Korean stock market once fell more than 9%, triggering the circuit breaker mechanism for the tenth time this year. The South Korean financial regulatory agency held an emergency meeting in the afternoon regarding the stock market, and subsequently, the market's decline narrowed. SK Hynix initially closed down 11.06%, while Samsung Electronics fell 9.48%.

The Japanese Bitcoin financial company Metaplanet announced that the company's board of directors has decided to implement a share buyback through the Tokyo Stock Exchange ToSTNeT-3 off-market trading mechanism. According to the announcement, Metaplanet plans to use the closing price of 261 yen per share on October 13, 2026, as the buyback price, and will execute buy orders through ToSTNeT-3 at 8:45 AM on October 14. The number of common shares intended for repurchase is 96,934,800 shares, accounting for approximately 7.1% of the total issued common shares after deducting treasury shares as of September 30, 2026, with an expected total buyback amount of approximately 25.2999828 billion yen.The company stated that the number of shares to be repurchased will not be adjusted, and the final transaction results will be announced after the trading ends at 8:45 AM on October 14. In addition, Metaplanet had previously approved a larger-scale share buyback plan, intending to repurchase up to 200 million shares through market trading on the Tokyo Stock Exchange from October 14, 2026, to October 13, 2027, accounting for approximately 14.7% of the issued shares, with a total buyback amount cap of 60 billion yen.

According to reports from Japan's Jiji Press and TBS, Japanese police have arrested 6 individuals suspected of laundering money for a fraud group through cryptocurrency assets. Police investigations indicate that the gang is suspected of handling approximately 91 million yen (about 580,000 USD) in fraud funds between February and March 2024, involving around 30 victims.The funds first entered the company's bank account, then were exchanged for BTC, converted to USDT through overseas channels, and returned to the fraud group. The individuals involved are reportedly charging a commission of about 1%.

After the overnight decline in U.S. Treasury yields, Japanese government bond yields fell across the board. On Thursday, U.S. Treasury yields decreased due to stable long-term bond auction results and the Treasury's repurchase operations. The market's expectations for further interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve have cooled, putting downward pressure on U.S. and Japanese bond yields. The yield on Japan's 10-year government bonds fell by 4.5 basis points during the session to 3.035%, the 2-year yield dropped by 1.5 basis points to 1.915%, and the 30-year yield decreased by 4 basis points to 4.08%.

According to NADA NEWS, the Japanese Ministry of Finance held the first meeting of the "National Debt Blockchain Research Committee" today and released explanatory materials, categorizing national debt on the blockchain into three types. Type 1 involves circulating the beneficial rights of funds (MMF) investing in national debt on the blockchain; Type 2 involves placing the transfer ledger on the blockchain under the current transfer settlement system, divided into three forms: single account management institutions, multi-institution collaboration, and interfacing with the Bank of Japan's ledger; Type 3 involves issuing a new form of national debt on the blockchain outside the current system.The Ministry of Finance believes that blockchain can enhance the efficiency of collateral and liquidity management and expand the investor base, particularly benefiting overseas investors. However, it also pointed out issues such as market fragmentation, transmission of severe price volatility, and system transformation costs. All three types are provisional categorizations, and the Ministry of Finance plans to compile a report before January 2027.

According to a report by the Japan Economic News cited by Reference News, the Japanese government has decided to impose additional sanctions on Russia during a cabinet meeting. In principle, the Japanese government prohibits providing operational, maintenance, insurance, and financing services to 35 vessels in Russia's "shadow fleet," which secretly transports crude oil to evade Western sanctions.In addition to the sanctions against the "shadow fleet," the Japanese government will also add 33 Russian military-related groups and 9 individuals to the asset freeze list, including groups involved in using cryptocurrency to evade financial sanctions.

Japanese licensed cryptocurrency exchange Bitbank announced that SBI Holdings has completed its full subsidiary acquisition. Along with Bitbank repurchasing shares from MIXI and Ceres, all previously planned transactions have been realized, making Bitbank a 100% indirectly held subsidiary of SBI Holdings. The total consideration for the share acquisition and capital increase disclosed by SBI earlier is approximately 46.7 billion yen.Bitbank CEO Noriyuki Hirose will remain in position. The company stated that existing exchange services will not be affected by this transaction, and it will further expand its digital asset business relying on SBI's financial capabilities, customer base, and resources.

Japan's top foreign exchange official, Jun Mimura, stated that the market should recognize the "very clear" signals released last week by Japan and the United States regarding the yen issue, demonstrating a determination to take action against excessive declines.Japan's Finance Minister, Shunichi Suzuki, mentioned that U.S. President Trump expressed concerns about the weakness of the yen during a summit with Japanese Prime Minister, Sanae Takaichi. Jun Mimura emphasized that they will closely monitor market reactions and expressed dissatisfaction and unease regarding the recent yen trends.

As Japan ends its holiday, the risk of yen intervention has once again become the focus. The yen has fallen for two consecutive weeks, approaching the 160 mark. Strategists believe that the 160 mark will once again test Japan's tolerance for yen depreciation.Strategists at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia stated that if the USD/JPY breaks above 160, it will increase the likelihood of official intervention, especially considering that Japan has recently conducted a currency check.

On Friday, the Bank of Japan raised interest rates by 25 basis points as the market expected. After the announcement of the rate hike decision, the Japanese yen weakened against the US dollar and Bitcoin. The price of Bitcoin, priced in US dollars, remained basically stable.

The Japanese yen stablecoin issuer JPYC has issued a malfunction notice, announcing the emergency suspension of the JPYC issuance reservation service on the Ethereum network.The official statement indicates that this function is currently in a suspended state, and the technical team is urgently investigating the specific cause of the malfunction. JPYC apologizes to the affected users regarding this matter and promises to release updates through official channels as soon as the details are confirmed.

Market news: Japanese NAND giant Kioxia Holdings is considering raising $10 billion through an IPO in the United States.The company is in talks with Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, and JPMorgan Chase to seek more liquidity in the U.S.

On September 14, the Japanese stock market's real estate, retail, and IT service sectors performed actively. According to Gate platform's Japanese stock market data, Rand (8918) rose by 10.00%, currently reported at approximately 0.07 USD; Kobe Bussan (3038) increased by 6.35%, currently reported at approximately 21.00 USD; SHIFT (3697) saw an increase of 6.05%, currently reported at approximately 6.00 USD.

According to TipRanks, Japanese gaming giant Gumi Inc. announced that it will recognize significant non-operating losses in the first quarter of the fiscal year ending April 2027 due to the decline in the fair value of crypto assets. Based on recent market fluctuations, the total valuation loss of crypto assets recognized by the company amounts to 1.537 billion yen (approximately 10 million USD), of which the parent company bears 675 million yen.This loss has been included in the financial report for the three months ending July 31, 2026. Following the announcement, Gumi's stock price fell by 19.1%.

According to CoinDesk, Citibank will launch an international transfer service based on tokenized deposits for Japanese companies by the end of the year, enabling 24/7 instant cross-border payments between five countries, becoming the first foreign bank to offer this service in Japan.

The Japanese yen has recently strengthened significantly against the US dollar, with the USDJPY exchange rate falling 1.4% to 156.4, continuing a 0.9% decline from Wednesday. The US Dollar Index (DXY) subsequently dropped 0.4% to 99.22, testing its 200-day moving average around 99.1. Against this backdrop, Bitcoin and gold have risen in tandem, contrasting with the traditional understanding that "a stronger yen usually triggers risk-off selling."Analysis indicates that the strength of the yen is beneficial for Bitcoin primarily because it has lowered the US Dollar Index, and a weaker dollar typically supports dollar-denominated assets and eases global financial conditions. However, if the yen's appreciation accelerates, this dynamic may quickly reverse. Over the past decade, traders have borrowed large amounts of cheap yen to make bullish bets on stocks, bonds, and even cryptocurrencies; a disorderly appreciation of the yen could trigger the unwinding of these positions, leading to risk aversion.The rapid appreciation of the yen has previously put pressure on Bitcoin, most notably during the yen carry trade unwinding in August 2024, when Bitcoin fell about 20% within a few days. Currently, traders are increasing their bets that the Bank of Japan will raise interest rates from 1% to 1.25% at the meeting on September 18, and it has been reported that US and Japanese authorities have previously intervened to support the yen, suggesting that there is little resistance to further strengthening of the yen.

The Japanese listed company Remixpoint disclosed that to promote the selection and concentration of its investment portfolio, it has sold all of its holdings in altcoins. In the future, it will focus its holdings and operations on a single asset, Bitcoin.As of the end of August, the company held approximately 14.92 BTC (about $1.0258 million), with ETH staked at about $68,400 and SOL staked at about $118,500. The sold assets included 901 ETH, 13,920 SOL, 1.19 million XRP, and 2.8 million DOGE, with a total sale amount of approximately $5.5 million and total profits of about $736,800.

SK Hynix CEO Kwak Noh-Jung stated that the company is exploring ways to deepen cooperation with Japanese memory chip customers and suppliers, and is cautiously assessing how to jointly develop the NAND flash memory market. Regarding the company's significant indirect stake in Kioxia, he mentioned that there are currently "no definite plans."After Toshiba's recent divestment, SK Hynix's investment vehicle BCPE Pangea Cayman2 has become Kioxia's largest shareholder, holding a 14.19% stake. SK Hynix holds bonds that can be converted into nearly all voting rights of this investment vehicle; according to a previous agreement, its voting rights cannot exceed 15% before 2028 without Kioxia's consent.In addition, SK Hynix is investing over $4 billion to build its first U.S. HBM packaging facility in Indiana. The cleanroom of the factory is expected to be operational by October 2028, with mass production of the next generation HBM planned for the second half of 2029, and it is expected to employ about 1,000 people once fully operational. The company is also still evaluating the possibility of listing its U.S. NAND subsidiary Solidigm, but no decision has been made yet.

According to the official announcement, Gate's Japanese stock trading service has officially launched on the App side, following its previous launch on the Web side, now achieving coverage on both Web and App platforms. Users can view market data, conduct trades, and manage their positions through either the computer or mobile platform, allowing for flexible switching between different usage scenarios. The first batch covers approximately 300 stocks listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, including popular targets such as Toyota Motor, Sony Group, SoftBank Group, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Nintendo, and Tokyo Electron.With the launch of the mobile service for Japanese stocks, Gate's stock trading service now covers four core markets: US stocks, Hong Kong stocks, Korean stocks, and Japanese stocks. In addition to continuously expanding the global stock market, Gate is also enhancing its product layout around Pre-IPOs, direct IPOs, and gStocks tokenized stocks, and supports fractional trading, stock dividends, and cross-brokerage transfer services. Through a unified stock account and collaboration across Web and App multi-terminals, Gate is further connecting different markets and asset types, continuously improving a one-stop multi-asset trading experience.