Japan’s Weak Yen Drives Corporate Bitcoin and XRP Adoption as SBI Sees Rising Demand

Japan's prolonged yen weakness is encouraging more businesses to add cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin (BTC) and XRP to their corporate balance sheets as companies look for alternatives to holding cash.

SBI VC Trade, the cryptocurrency exchange operated by SBI Holdings, announced Tuesday that corporate demand for digital assets has been increasing as the Japanese currency continues to hover near its weakest level in almost 40 years. The platform also revealed that its registered accounts have surpassed 2 million, roughly double the total recorded in 2025, highlighting growing interest from both retail and institutional users.

The yen's decline has been fueled by the widening monetary policy gap between the U.S. Federal Reserve and the Bank of Japan. While the Fed has maintained relatively high interest rates, the BOJ has been slower to tighten policy, making the yen less attractive to hold and prompting companies to seek assets that may better preserve value.

Market sentiment reflects the growing pressure on Japan's currency. According to the latest Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) data, hedge funds have built their largest bearish position on the yen since 2007, with nearly 138,000 net short contracts as of June 30. During Asian trading on Wednesday, the U.S. dollar traded around 162 yen.

SBI said interest in its corporate crypto services has expanded alongside companies introducing Bitcoin and XRP as shareholder rewards, further supporting digital asset adoption in Japan.

The trend also aligns with the resurgence of the yen carry trade, where investors borrow at Japan's low interest rates and invest in higher-yielding assets abroad. Analysts say part of that capital is increasingly flowing into cryptocurrencies through regulated domestic platforms instead of offshore exchanges.

Meanwhile, Bitcoin traded near $62,650 on Tuesday, marking a weekly gain of 6.1%, according to CoinDesk data, as institutional interest in digital assets continues to strengthen amid global macroeconomic uncertainty.