$135B Japanese Stimulus Wins Approval, but Bitcoin Continues Its Downward Drift

Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has rolled out one of the country’s most aggressive spending packages in recent years, with her cabinet on Friday approving a JPY 21.3 trillion ($135.4 billion) stimulus plan aimed at easing cost pressures on consumers and businesses.

The package allocates JPY 17.7 trillion in general account spending—substantially higher than last year’s JPY 13.9 trillion—and includes JPY 2.7 trillion in tax cuts. It marks the largest fiscal push since the COVID era and reflects Takaichi’s commitment to expansionary policy despite the risk of reinforcing inflationary trends.

Even so, bitcoin offered no sign of its usual inflation-hedge behavior. BTC slipped another 0.8% to $85,480, extending a steep pullback from the record $126,000 level reached on Oct. 8.