Bitcoin and Crypto World in Motion: Big News from Japan and US

The past 24 hours have brought a mix of significant developments for the crypto market and the broader financial landscape. While Bitcoin holds steady around $64.200 with modest growth, major changes are taking place behind the scenes that could affect the future of digital assets.

Bitcoin is available at OKX and Bybit.

Japan takes historic step with crypto investment

A significant moment for the crypto market: Japan’s national corporate pension fund will invest 1% of its assets in crypto for the first time in fiscal year 2026. This is a rare decision for the traditionally cautious pension industry in Japan. The fund justifies the move by framing crypto as a hedge against currency risks.

This move follows growing acceptance of digital assets in institutional circles worldwide. Japanese institutional players are increasingly looking at crypto as a serious investment vehicle.

Regulation and oversight take shape in America

In the US, the regulatory branches are at work. Senator Bill Hagerty indicates that the CLARITY Act could potentially be taken up before the July 4 recess. The industry is nearly unanimous in supporting the proposal, with 80% to 85% backing. However, Senator Cynthia Lummis expects a vote is more likely around the August recess.

Meanwhile, SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce, known as the ‘Crypto Mom’ of the regulator, announces that she will leave in November to teach at Regent Law. This moment in regulation is crucial, with ongoing work on tokenisation and innovation exemptions. Her departure will reduce the SEC to only two commissioners.

Fast moves in the crypto market

CZ proposes freezing up to 1 million Bitcoins linked to Satoshi, should they remain unmoved after a future quantum-resistant upgrade. This proposal provides a migration window of six to twelve months for the approximately 22,000 dormant addresses.

Ondo Finance, meanwhile, is making progress with tokenised securities. The platform built a bridge for 35 tokenised US stocks, including SPY, NVDA and TSLA, from BNB Chain to Hyperliquid’s HyperEVM. This brought Ondo’s total assets under management past $970 million, with nearly $18 billion in cumulative trading volume.

Bio Protocol recently spun off OpenLabs, an AI-assisted platform for research, funding and on-chain governance focused on decentralised science. The BIO Genesis initiative has now raised over $33 million.

On the negative side, we saw that Strategy’s STRC preferred dropped below $83 in just five weeks, raising allegations of fraud. However, Michael Saylor and Adam Back have dismissed these allegations. The company sold 32 Bitcoin earlier this month, its first Bitcoin sale since 2022.

As for coin performance: Hyperliquid remained the standout this week, with a 14.8% increase over seven days despite a 2% dip on Sunday. Dogecoin was the weakest major player, with a 4.9% loss over the week, while Bitcoin managed to hold up reasonably well.