At 11:00 AM Tokyo time, I was on a video call with Lao Zhao, who specializes in Yen arbitrage, when suddenly the trading hall behind him fell into a strange silence. The Nikkei index on the screen flickered with a 2.3% plunge in red.

"It's starting," Lao Zhao's voice was a bit hoarse. "The world's cheapest $500 billion is going to start increasing in price today."

I switched to the market software—BTC plummeted 8% in five minutes, ETH dropped straight down by 12%. The entire market seemed to be pressed down by an invisible hand. But I didn't tremble; instead, I calmly pressed the buy button, putting all my remaining funds into stablecoins.

Lao Zhao later asked me, "Everyone's fleeing, why do you still dare to buy?"

I said, "When the tide recedes, what I want isn't the fastest escape, but a position that never sinks."

Today’s 25 basis point adjustment by the Bank of Japan far exceeds a simple interest rate change. It signifies that the era of low-interest Yen for over ten years has officially ended, and the $500 billion arbitrage capital is beginning to withdraw en masse from risk assets. The global risk appetite is being recalibrated.

As the most sensitive indicator of liquidity changes, the crypto market is the first to react. But have you noticed—during this crash, those stablecoins with real collateral backing and clear value anchors have remained remarkably stable? That’s their value: not a speculative tool to make you money, but a lifeline when liquidity truly dries up.