Japan’s new prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, on Tuesday announced an economic stimulus package to ease the impact of inflation on household budgets. The move could lead to more capital flowing into Bitcoin, some cryptocurrency experts say.
The stimulus package includes subsidies for electricity and gas rates, as well as regional grants to ease price pressures and encourage wage increases for small and medium-sized businesses.
BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes saw this development as a precursor to more fiat currency printing by Japan’s central bank, which could fuel Bitcoin’s (BTC) rise to $1 million.
“So let’s print money and give it out to people to help with food and energy costs,” Hayes said in a post on X on Tuesday, adding that this momentum could push Bitcoin to $1 million and cause a rise in the Japanese yen at the same time.
Meanwhile, the yen fell to a one-week low on Tuesday after Takaichi became Japan’s first female prime minister. Investors saw this as a mixed signal for Japan’s future interest rate decisions, Reuters reported.
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Takaichi’s “promotion of economic stimulus” stance reignites expectations for quantitative monetary easing by the Bank of Japan
Hayes previously predicted that the Bank of Japan’s turn to quantitative easing (QE) could be the next big trigger for Bitcoin and risk assets.
QE refers to central banks buying bonds and injecting money into the economy to lower interest rates and stimulate spending in difficult financial conditions.
The Bank of Japan’s next monetary policy meeting is scheduled for October 29th. Most analysts expect the Bank of Japan to raise interest rates by 0.75% by early 2026, but there is no clear consensus on the exact date, Reuters reported on Monday.
The central bank is currently engaging in quantitative tightening, with no clear plan to reverse the move to quantitative easing until it reaches its 2% inflation target.
However, with 80% of the world’s banks already pursuing quantitative easing efforts, Takaichi’s “pro-stimulus stance” could soon “force Japan into easing,” according to an Oct. 8 X post from macro investment resource Milkroad Macro.
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Bitcoin whales turn bullish with new long positions after Bitcoin “flushes” to $104,000
Meanwhile, whales, or large crypto investors, are signaling a renewed appetite for Bitcoin as the price recovers from Friday’s four-month low of $104,000.
On Wednesday, three whales returned to the decentralized exchange HyperLiquid, depositing tens of millions of dollars and starting leveraged long positions that used “borrowed” funds to scale up their investments.
Notably, whale wallet 0x3fce increased its long Bitcoin position to $49.7 million, while whale wallet 0x89AB opened a long position with 6x leverage worth $14 million, blockchain data platform Lookonchain wrote in a post on X on Wednesday.
magazine: Bitcoin sees ‘another big push’ to $150,000, ETH pressure increases