Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda's remarks on January 5th drew market attention. He explicitly stated that once economic and price data meet the central bank's expectations, the Bank of Japan will continue to advance the process of interest rate hikes. According to his logic, a moderate and joint increase in wages and prices has become highly probable, which also creates conditions for further monetary policy adjustments. The ultimate goal is to maintain sustainable economic growth.

The last rate hike occurred in December of last year, when the Bank of Japan raised interest rates to 0.75%, the highest in 30 years. The market generally expects one to two more rate hikes by 2026, ultimately pushing the rate close to 1%.

What does this mean for crypto assets? In the short term, the yen's interest rate increase combined with the narrowing of the USD/JPY interest rate differential is likely to attract capital flows that utilize yen financing for arbitrage back into the domestic market. This money is very likely to flow into risk assets like BTC and ETH. From this perspective, it is a positive signal. However, conversely, if the pace of rate hikes triggers a tightening of the global financial environment, risk assets should be cautious.

What is the current market situation? BTC remains steady above $91,000, while Ethereum hovers around $3,150. How far this rally can go depends on upcoming data and policy developments in the next few weeks.