Bank of Japan raises interest rate for first time in 11 months... Bitcoin rebounds

The Bank of Japan (BOJ) abruptly raised its policy rate by 0.25 percentage points. As a result, Japan's policy rate reached its highest level in 30 years.

At the Monetary Policy Meeting held on the 19th, the BOJ announced it would raise the short-term policy rate from 0.5% to 0.75%. This is the first additional hike in about 11 months since January and exactly matched market expectations.

Despite the tightening move, the crypto asset (cryptocurrency) market temporarily rebounded. The market appears to be interpreting this as a resolution of macroeconomic (macro) uncertainty.

Bitcoin, which had been in the $85,000 range, broke through the $87,000 level immediately after the announcement. As of the afternoon of the 19th, Bitcoin was trading in the $87,400 range on global exchange Binance's Tether (USDT) market. Ethereum (ETH) also rose alongside, recovering the $2,900 level.

Initially, the market was rife with concerns that Japan's rate hike would trigger the unwinding of the 'Yen Carry Trade', which would be a major negative for the crypto market. In fact, that fear had been priced in, causing Bitcoin to plunge about 20% month-on-month and even dip to the $80,000 level on the 21st of last month. But with the rate hike becoming reality on the day, the market seems to be treating it as an 'event end' rather than an additional negative.