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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.

According to a report by South Korea's Small and Medium Business News on September 28, industry insiders stated that SK Hynix has initiated the foundational engineering required for establishing a semiconductor factory in the Tohoku region of Japan. One insider mentioned that it is still unclear whether the project will be an independent factory or a joint venture with Kioxia, but local groundwork is underway, and SK Hynix has also requested domestic component suppliers in South Korea to expand their supply.The report noted that as of a month ago, SK Hynix's stance on building a memory semiconductor factory in Japan was still "under research," and they stated that "there are no specific decisions." In response to this news, SK Hynix indicated that the Japanese memory semiconductor factory is still in the research phase, with no further advancements at this time.The report also mentioned that SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won stated in August this year that they are studying the establishment of a joint venture memory semiconductor factory in Japan, with the Tohoku region subsequently seen as a strong candidate. The Tohoku region of Japan and Iwate Prefecture have gathered semiconductor and material component companies such as Kioxia's Kitakami factory, Japan Semiconductor, Ancor Technology, Denso, and Tokyo Electron.

The yield on Japan's 10-year government bonds rose by 10 basis points to 3.075%, the highest level since 1996. The yield curve increased across all maturities, with the 5-year yield rising by 9.5 basis points to 2.37%.The sell-off of U.S. Treasuries intensified, driven by strong economic data and weak demand at Treasury auctions, pushing U.S. bond yields to near twenty-year highs. Rising oil prices have heightened inflation concerns, reinforcing expectations for interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve.

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.

According to a joint alert issued by the Japanese National Police Agency, FBI, ASD/ACSC, BND, and BfV, the North Korean-backed cyber attack organization "WaterPlum" (also known as Contagious Interview) targets job seekers by disguising itself as an AI, cryptocurrency, and NFT company to post fake job listings. This lures job seekers into downloading NPM packages containing malware such as BeaverTail, InvisibleFerret, and OtterCookie, which then steal cryptocurrency wallet information and confidential data.As of July 2026, the organization has infected over 30,000 devices in more than 100 countries and regions worldwide, stealing information from over 7,000 cryptocurrency wallets, with the wallets under its control receiving at least approximately 1.7 billion yen (about 10.71 million USD) in cryptocurrency. The Japanese National Police Agency has discovered and dismantled a "notebook farm" established by local "supporters" for the first time in the country, where North Korean IT laborers remotely control PCs within the supporters' residences to conduct business, with the related amount involved reaching several hundred million yen.The police and FBI assess that WaterPlum and some North Korean IT laborers are under the unified command of the 313 Bureau of the Ministry of Military Industry of the Workers' Party of Korea, with the profits directly flowing into North Korea's national funding pool. The police remind IT technicians and corporate issuers to remain vigilant and avoid executing third-party code in unverified environments.

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.

Mitul Kotecha, Head of Foreign Exchange and Emerging Markets Macro Strategy at Barclays Asia, stated that the Federal Reserve's interest rate hike decision makes a rate increase by the Bank of Japan almost inevitable. The yen has depreciated by more than 1.1% since the Federal Reserve's decision, while the dollar has appreciated by 0.7% against major trading partner currencies.

The Financial Services Agency of Japan announced the "2026 Fiscal Year Financial Administrative Guidelines," proposing to clarify the issues of on-chain finance in terms of technology, systems, and regulation through verification and dialogue between the public and private sectors, while ensuring user protection and the stability of the financial system, and to build a financial infrastructure that is both convenient and competitive.The Financial Services Agency of Japan will also promote the shortening and upgrading of securities settlement processes in conjunction with the development of asset tokenization, and plans to establish an on-chain financial forum aimed at the AI era to discuss the applications of digital finance, decentralized finance, and AI technology in the financial sector.

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.

The central banks of the United States, Japan, and the United Kingdom will announce their monetary policy decisions this week, with the market focusing on whether the Federal Reserve will initiate its first interest rate hike in three years.Iran and Gulf countries are negotiating shipping management in the Strait of Hormuz to address high crude oil prices.

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%.

The Japan Digital Agency stated that its servers suffered unauthorized access, and the personal data of approximately 246,000 individuals may have been leaked. The agency announced on Friday that in late June, it detected someone using a maintenance account to access a large number of files on its government solutions service network.Subsequent investigations revealed that someone exploited a virtual private network vulnerability, potentially stealing information from civil servants and other individuals using the system.

Former senior officials of the Bank of Japan warned that U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen's "unusual" intervention in Japan's monetary affairs could undermine the credibility of the Bank of Japan and trigger greater volatility in global markets.Markets expect the Bank of Japan to raise interest rates by 25 basis points at next week's meeting. Yellen claimed to have insider information about the intentions of the Bank of Japan, and Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki stated that her remarks were "a bit frightening."

The yield on Japan's 10-year government bonds continued to rise, briefly touching 3%, reaching a new high in over a week.

In August, Japan's corporate goods prices rose more than expected, supporting the Bank of Japan's continued interest rate hikes to curb inflation risks. Data shows that in August, corporate input prices increased by 7.6% year-on-year, higher than the expected 7.4%.Market expectations are that the Bank of Japan will raise the benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points to 1.25% on September 18.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Basant's public pressure campaign to promote the appreciation of the yen has heightened market expectations for the Bank of Japan to take monetary tightening actions. He claimed to have "asymmetric information" regarding the Bank of Japan's next steps and referred to himself as a "big player."Market expectations indicate a 25 basis point interest rate hike next week, and Basant's remarks highlight his level of involvement in the formulation of Japan's economic policy.

The tenth round of executive option pool at Japan's Bitcoin treasury company Metaplanet continues to spark shareholder dissatisfaction. This option pool was originally designed to be 20% of the fully diluted equity and automatically expands as the company issues new shares to increase its Bitcoin holdings. Some shareholders are calling for the cancellation of the newly added 273 million shares and for greater transparency in future decision-making. On August 18, Metaplanet froze the option pool at 319.5 million shares, but critics argue that this actually amplifies the dilution for existing shareholders, as the option pool increased from 46 million shares to 319.5 million shares.Metaplanet CEO Simon Gerovich has committed to re-evaluating the company's governance and compensation policies and clarifying its relationship with shareholder MMXX Ventures, stating that it is merely a non-controlling significant shareholder of MMXX's parent company and does not hold an executive position. On August 31, Metaplanet disclosed that Gerovich had exercised 92,000 shares from the option pool. Matthew Sigel, head of digital asset research at VanEck, suggested freezing further exercise rights of the tenth round option pool, allowing holders to voluntarily waive excess rights, and replacing the tenth round option pool with a five-year incentive plan primarily linked to each share's fully diluted Bitcoin holdings, approved by shareholders.In its announcement on August 18, Metaplanet acknowledged that the decision to expand the option pool "amplified the dilution borne by existing shareholders." As of Wednesday's close in Tokyo, Metaplanet's stock price rose, narrowing the five-day decline to about 16.3%.