Former Blockstream executive and BTC maxi Samson Mow has posted on social media site X that, thanks to the Japanese yen’s horrible performance, it’s ‘only a matter of time’ before Japan’s central bank (BoJ) embraces BTC.
However, with bankruptcies hitting record highs, pensioners starving, and the government mismanaging funds, it’s clear Mow is either unaware or willfully ignorant of the fact that slapping a centrally regulated BTC band-aid on things is not going to help.
The former Blockstream executive and now CEO of a BTC/nation-state liaison enterprise called JAN3, Samson Mow, has weighed in on what Japan needs to do in order to see economic recovery. The Canadian-born video game developer tweeted on X on January 14 (JST) that “The Japanese Yen, the third largest currency in the world, is almost back to where it was last summer.” Samson Mow continued: “All of the BOJ interventions did nothing.”
Samson Mow went on to emphasize that it is “only a matter of time until they [the Bank of Japan] embrace Bitcoin.” While the multi-millionaire, laser-eyed maximalist is correct that the yen is in horrible shape, he’s absolutely out of touch, or ignoring, what’s happening on the ground in Japan. It’s a situation no regulated, state-embedded crypto (such as what BTC would be if held in a BoJ reserve) could fix.
Samsung Mow’s X post
Wracked by bankruptcy and poverty-line pensions, Japanese struggle under weak yen
It’s just been reported that corporate bankruptcies in Japan are expected to exceed 10,000 in 2024, for the first time in 11 years. This, combined with record restaurant bankruptcies, retailers facing falling profits for the first time in three years, and the pain of ever-escalating inflation, has Japanese scrambling to stay afloat and survive day-to-day life as small and medium-sized enterprises are pushed out of the market.
Doctor’s offices and clinics are also shuttering their doors on the country’s graying population, who scrape by on pensions that nobody could survive on (around $800 USD a month for some retired folks), for the same reasons. But, according to Samson Mow, all this could be fixed with a little BTC in the hands of the same state that created this mess.
At the time of writing, JPY is about 158 yen to the dollar, indeed approaching exchange lows not seen since last summer. But one look could at the state of the Blackrock and Trump-championed asset called BTC, and the state of the Japanese government, says a Bank of Japan bitcoin reserve wouldn’t help the everyday people living on the archipelago.
Chart showing corporate bankruptcies exceeding 10,000 in 2024, the most since 2013. Source: Nikkei/Tokyo Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
Anti-crypto, anti-freedom Japanese government won’t help
For starters, Japan’s prime minister, Shigeru Ishiba, has repeatedly and publicly questioned the legitimacy of cryptocurrencies, refusing to consider a lowered 20% tax rate, and aiming to increase defense spending dramatically even as the aging population goes hungry on boiled bean sprouts. If the BoJ adopted a BTC reserve, it would still be in the hands of figureheads like this deciding how to allocate the coins.
Second, BTC is not easy to spend for the average Japanese individual. Long wait times, high transaction fees, and beyond-tedious KYC (know-your-customer) requirements at the nation’s top centralized exchanges means that for most residents — and especially the older ones — getting into crypto in this fashion is a non-starter.
So what is Samson Mow actually talking about? At the end of the day, he is talking about a captured, centralized asset being in the hands of a nation-state that is already taxing residents into literal poverty and homelessness. What is really needed, as always, is permissionless exchange as described by Satoshi Nakamoto, out of the hands of abusive, centralized powers. Thankfully for those in Asia and Japan, it is happening at a grassroots level, for everyday people, via meetups, wallets, trade and commerce with assets like BCH (bitcoin cash), regardless of what Samson Mow may proclaim from his ivory tower.
