Japan’s SBI Group VCTRADE reaches 2 million registered accounts

SBI Group’s VCTRADE has reached 2 million registered accounts in Japan as corporate demand for bitcoin and XRP increases against a backdrop of pronounced yen weakness. SBI VC Trade said companies are increasingly looking beyond cash reserves as the yen trades near its weakest level in four decades, while firms are also using bitcoin and XRP in shareholder perk programs. The broader market backdrop points to pressure from the interest-rate gap between the U.S. Federal Reserve and the Bank of Japan, a dynamic that has weighed on the yen, supported carry-trade activity and, increasingly, routed some flows into crypto through regulated Japanese channels. Hedge funds were the most bearish on the yen since 2007, with nearly 138,000 contracts betting on further losses as of June 30, while the dollar bought about 162 yen in Asian morning trading Wednesday. Bitcoin traded near $62,650 on Tuesday, up 6.1% on the week, according to CoinDesk data.