Bitcoin already at the highest historical level in Japan.

Bitcoin has just set a historical record against the yen, the currency of Japan. This is also the case in nearly twenty other countries.

Big Bitcoin in Japan

It’s done. Bitcoin has reached an all-time high for the 125 million Japanese people. A single bitcoin is now worth almost 7.8 million yen.

The depreciation of the Japanese currency is to blame. At the time of the previous record, one dollar was worth 104 yen compared to 150 today. That’s a depreciation of nearly 25% in just two years.

These 25% are more or less what separates bitcoin from its record against the dollar. It makes sense. This gap is linked to the exchange rate fluctuation. And since Japan does not practice capital controls, there are no arbitrage opportunities.

The land of the rising sun is not alone. This is also the case for Argentina, Turkey, Iran, Nigeria, Egypt, Congo-Kinshasa, Lebanon, Syria, Ghana, Laos, Myanmar, Ethiopia, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Pakistan, Suriname, and Venezuela.

These countries represent a population of nearly 1.4 billion people where the FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) is probably more acute than in the rest of the world.

Update: This is what #Bitcoin  looks like for the citizens of Turkey, Egypt, Nigeria, Argentina, Lebanon and Pakistan.
A combined population of
725 MILLION people
Nigeria and Argentina price more than doubled since I posted this 2 months ago 🤯 pic.twitter.com/EIiMEpgqWl

— Tahini’s (@TheRealTahinis) February 11, 2024

All these countries are facing double-digit inflation rates. Because of war (Lebanon, Syria), poor harvests (Argentina), American sanctions (Venezuela, Syria, Iran, Turkey, Myanmar), decline in oil production (Nigeria), rising food prices (Egypt, Sierra Leone), etc.

Here are the annual inflation rates:

Argentina: 254%
Lebanon: 192%
Venezuela: 107%
Syria: 84%
Turkey: 64%
Sudan: 63%
Sierra Leone: 52%
Congo: 42%
Iran: 38%
Malawi: 34%
Cuba: 31%
Nigeria: 29%
Egypt: 29%
Ethiopia: 28%
Myanmar: 28%
Pakistan: 28%
Laos: 24%
Ghana: 23%

Many of these countries have capital controls in place to prevent a fall in the exchange rate and further aggravate inflation. In other words, it is now very difficult to easily procure bitcoins there.

That’s why all nations suffering from a trade deficit should attract bitcoin miners. This avoids the need to buy them abroad, which in turn burdens the exchange rate.

Ethiopia seems to have understood this:

It's official!🥂

The Ethiopian Government will be mining bitcoin through it's partnership with Data Center Service PLC, a subsidiary of the West Data Group…🫱🏽‍🫲🏿

The partnership will be for the purposes of a $250 million data mining project in Ethiopia 🇪🇹 pic.twitter.com/2YfQ3QbUEO

— Kal Kassa (@KalKassa) February 15, 2024

Despite the prohibition of exchanges (exchange control), Ethiopia has been welcoming bitcoin miners since 2022. Increasingly close ties with China have encouraged Chinese miners to establish themselves there to take advantage of its surplus hydroelectric energy.

The stars are aligning for Bitcoin…