Traders in Tokyo have been having a tough time lately. The Governor of the Bank of Japan, Kazuo Ueda, gave a speech a few days ago at the Japan Business Federation, directly announcing that the era of ultra-low interest rates in Japan, which has lasted for decades, has officially come to an end.

The core message is quite firm—the policy Intrerest Rate has been adjusted to 0.75%, the highest level since 1995. Ueda Kazuo also emphasized that "if the rate hike is delayed any further, there may be a need for a significant increase in the future." Meanwhile, Japan's unemployment rate in November remains steady at 3.3%, looking very stable.

But this is not a mild adjustment; it is an earthquake in monetary policy. Ueda clearly pointed out that the reason for the interest rate hike is that "the risks of inflation and growth have both diminished," and specifically mentioned the need to "closely monitor the impact of the weak yen on underlying inflation." It sounds like paving the way for further interest rate hikes.

The data here looks good, but there are undercurrents over there. Statistics show that the number of bankruptcies among Japanese companies due to labor shortages is soaring, reaching 359 cases from January to November this year, a record high for the same period. This indicates that the structural problems of the real economy may be much deeper than the surface data suggests.

Ueda's path is very clear: aiming for a virtuous cycle of wages and prices, allowing monetary policy to gradually return to "data-driven normalization." For global capital that has become accustomed to Japan's unlimited easing policy, this is nothing short of an earthquake.

On the other side of the market, crypto investors are pondering how to respond. The actions of the Bank of Japan will affect the flow of the yen, thereby impacting global capital allocation. Stablecoins have become the choice for many to hedge against this uncertainty—demand for products like USDD is rising, as investors hope to use stablecoins to maintain the relative safety of their assets while waiting for a clearer market landscape.

Macroeconomic changes often come suddenly, but opportunities are also present within them. Next, we need to continue observing how the market will move.