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Japan’s snap election delivered a decisive mandate for Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, triggering an immediate rally across equities, foreign exchange, and crypto markets. The Nikkei 225 surged to record highs above 57,000, the yen weakened sharply, and Bitcoin briefly climbed past $72,000 during Asian trading hours.

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At first glance, the reaction looked like a classic risk-on move driven by expectations of fiscal stimulus and policy continuity. But beneath the rebound, a different dynamic is taking shape, one that could tighten global liquidity and pressure risk assets in the near term.

Traders have dubbed the shift the “Takaichi trade,” a combination of aggressive fiscal expansion, tolerance for a weaker yen, and support for loose monetary conditions. While this mix has lifted Japanese stocks and exporters, analysts warn it is also reshaping cross-border capital flows in ways that may weigh on global markets.

Portfolio Rebalancing and Liquidity Tightening

According to analysis from CryptoQuant contributor XWIN Research Japan, the main risk does not stem from capital fleeing the United States outright. Instead, global investors are rebalancing portfolios as Japanese government bonds regain appeal after years of ultra-low yields.

Expectations of higher spending and reflation have pushed yields up, drawing capital back into domestic Japanese assets. This rotation has coincided with a pullback in U.S. equities.

Over the past week, major indices, including the Nasdaq and S&P 500, slipped into correction territory, reflecting tighter financial conditions and a reassessment of risk. As inflows into U.S. equity ETFs slow, marginal liquidity across global markets has declined, amplifying volatility.

Currency dynamics add another layer of pressure. Yen weakness, persistent U.S.–Japan rate differentials, and steady demand for dollars have increased funding costs for leveraged trades. Historically, such conditions tend to push investors to de-risk across multiple asset classes simultaneously.

Equity Weakness Spills Into Bitcoin

Bitcoin’s recent pullback fits this pattern. Despite briefly reclaiming levels above $70,000 after the election, analysts note that crypto markets remain closely linked to U.S. equities during risk-off phases. When stocks weaken, portfolio managers often trim crypto exposure simultaneously to manage overall volatility.

CryptoQuant data suggests the current softness in Bitcoin prices is driven less by on-chain deterioration and more by futures unwinds and leverage reduction. Open interest has declined, and forced liquidations earlier in the month cleared out crowded long positions, leaving traders more cautious about chasing rebounds.

From a longer-term perspective, Japan’s political stability could still support digital asset adoption. Takaichi’s supermajority gives her administration room to advance tax reforms, stablecoin regulations, and Web3 initiatives later in 2026.

Related Reading: Crypto Alert: 2 Victims Lose Over $60M In Address Poisoning Scam

For now, however, the market remains vulnerable to global risk cycles. As capital continues to adjust to Japan’s fiscal pivot and U.S. equities stay under pressure, short-term downside risks are likely to persist despite the post-election bounce.

Cover image from ChatGPT, BTCUSD chart from Tradingview

Ripple has been slotted into the global top 10 of the most valuable private companies at an estimated $50 billion valuation, according to a widely shared “unicorn companies” table circulating on X.

The ranking matters because it reframes Ripple less as a single-token narrative and more as a scaled private-market franchise: a payments infrastructure firm that, at least in secondary valuation terms, is now being discussed in the same breath as the largest AI and fintech “super-unicorns.”

Ripple Ranks #9 Among World’s Largest Private Companies

The image that has been widely reposted on X presents a “List of unicorn companies” with Ripple highlighted at a $50 billion valuation. In that snapshot, Ripple appears alongside a cohort dominated by AI, fintech, and consumer platforms, including OpenAI ($500B), ByteDance ($480B), SpaceX ($400B), Anthropic ($350B), xAI ($230B), Databricks ($100B), Revolut ($75B), Stripe ($70B), and Shein ($66B).

A $50 billion tag implies a step-up from a $40 billion post-money valuation associated with a late-2025 equity financing. Taking those two marks at face value, the move to $50 billion represents roughly a 25% increase in implied enterprise value in a short window, an unusually sharp change for a late-stage private company unless secondary markets are repricing aggressively or a new transaction has reset expectations.

Ripple’s private valuation history has also been shaped by company-led liquidity events. The firm has previously conducted share repurchases that effectively created valuation reference points for employees and early investors, including buybacks at an implied $15 billion valuation in 2022 and $11.3 billion in early 2024. Against that backdrop, the late-2025 jump to $40 billion and the current $50 billion figure depict a company whose private-market value has been re-marked upward in distinct steps rather than through the continuous feedback loop of public markets.

That context also matters for how traders and allocators interpret the headline. Private valuations are not the same thing as liquid market prices, and they can reflect transaction structure, preferred terms, or limited float dynamics as much as broad investor consensus. Still, when a company starts appearing on top-10 private-company lists dominated by AI and mega-fintech, it signals that the market increasingly views it as an infrastructure-scale business rather than a niche crypto-adjacent story.

The valuation narrative is also colliding with IPO expectations and Ripple’s consistent stance that a listing is not imminent. With no near-term plan or timeline to go public, Ripple’s price discovery remains anchored to episodic financings and tender offers, meaning the next meaningful datapoint could come from another private round, a new buyback, or secondary transactions that leak into the market.

For crypto markets, the immediate implication isn’t a direct token catalyst so much as a reframing of Ripple’s corporate footprint. If the $50 billion valuation is true, it sets a higher bar for how investors model the company’s optionality: whether that’s future capital raising, M&A capacity, or leverage in institutional partnerships. If it doesn’t, the episode will still have demonstrated how quickly private-market narratives can harden into “consensus” once a single, shareable number hits the timeline.

At press time, XRP traded at $1.40.

The Bitcoin market shrugged, but the conversation about quantum computers and Bitcoin popped back into feeds this week. It’s an old worry that keeps coming up: could future machines break the cryptography that protects wallets?

Based on reports from CoinShares and comments from long-time Bitcoin voices, the real story is less about an immediate panic and more about practical planning and who would actually be at risk.

Public Keys Expose A Small Slice

Reports say that only 10,230 BTC sit in addresses where public keys are already visible, and that changes the math. Those coins would be the easiest targets if a powerful quantum machine appeared.

Around 7,000 BTC sit in mid-size wallets holding between 100 and 1,000 coins. About 3,230 BTC live in larger addresses holding between 1,000 and 10,000 coins.

At today’s values that stake is worth several hundred million dollars. That’s big money, but it’s not the same as a collapse of the protocol. An aggressive theft of that size would look like a heavy trade or a major security incident, not a network failure.

 

Quantum Hardware Still Falls Short

According to experts, the algorithmic threat is straightforward: Shor’s algorithm would attack elliptic-curve signatures and Grover’s algorithm would weaken SHA-256 hashing.

But reports note a huge gap between experiment and attack. Current machines run at a little over 100 qubits in experimental setups. An effective break would need millions of stable, error-corrected qubits.

That kind of hardware has not been built. In short: the math shows a possible route, but the engineering is far from ready.

Old Coins, The Real Operational Headache

Many of the more exposed addresses date back to Bitcoin’s early days and contain coins that have never moved. That makes them special. When those keys were first used, best practices were different.

Now, those same keys are a known point of weakness if quantum computing power ever arrives. Movement of those coins would be messy. Custodians, exchanges, and individual holders would all need to coordinate.

A technical fix could be proposed and adopted. The hard work would be getting people to update software and migrate keys before any real danger materializes. That is a logistics problem more than a cryptography puzzle.

Veteran Voices Call For Early Work

According to Andreas Antonopoulos, a well-known Bitcoin and cryptocurrency expert, the threat is real but distant; he urges preparation rather than alarm.

British cryptographer Adam Back has said planning can happen in an orderly way, and panic is unnecessary so long as steps start now.

Those views line up: upgrade paths should be designed, wallets must discourage key reuse, and the community should test migration procedures.

If action is taken early, there’s ample room to make the shift without rushing or breaking systems.

Featured image from Crypto Valley Journal, chart from TradingView

Even after reclaiming the $70,000 price level following a relief bounce, Bitcoin short-term investors remain bearish about the cryptocurrency’s trajectory in the near term. With the price of BTC facing downside pressure, these investors are reducing exposure by offloading their holdings.

Short-Term Holders Quietly Shed Bitcoin Holdings

Investors’ activity and sentiment are starting to flip as the Bitcoin price battles with the ongoing volatile market state, bringing it back to downside levels not seen since 2024. Given the persistent downward movement, the supply held by short-term BTC holders is declining, marking a shift in supply and market dynamics.

Related Reading: Bitcoin Short-Term Holders Deep In Loss: MVRV Signals Capitulation Phase

Alphractal, an advanced investment and on-chain data analytics platform, reported that changing sentiment among short-term holders after examining their Net Position Change and Supply. This pattern implies that weaker hands are lowering their exposure by either selling into the recent volatility or allowing longer-term investors to buy their coins.

Historically, a market moving from speculative to more conviction-driven behavior is reflected in a declining short-term holding supply. At the same time, it is evident from the 90-day net position change that new wallet addresses are not interested in building up to these levels.

This reinforces a market scenario where continuation is improbable absent a price or mood reset and suggests weak marginal demand. In the meantime, Alphractal highlighted that the on-chain data remains very clear. 

Alphractal noted in another post that the Bitcoin LTH/STH is declining. A drop in this metric implies that BTC transactions from long-term holders are becoming increasingly less profitable in comparison to those from short-term holders. On-chain behavior is repeating, and this pattern has been present in every previous bear market.

BTC Short-Term And Long-Term Holders Are Now Facing Pressure

These investors are still underwater as prices decline. In a recent research, Darkfost, an author at CryptoQuant, revealed that Bitcoin has put all the short-term holders under pressure and is now beginning to test long-term holders since the start of the correction. This change signifies a significant stage in the market structure, where sustained pressure may either confirm long-term holding resistance or compel wider capitulation.

Related Reading: Bitcoin Market Calm As Long-Term Holder Sell-Side Activity Dries Up, Bullish Phase Returning?

With a cost basis of  $103,188 and $85,849, the expert stated that the first long-term holder cohorts, particularly holders between 6m and 12m, and 12m and 18m holders, are already under pressure. However, the price of Bitcoin has reacted after hitting the realized price of older holders (those holding between 18m and 2 years), which is currently positioned at $63,654.

According to Darkfost, this level seems to be an area of interest to these holders, but this is not what is displayed exactly on the chart. The fact that their cost basis has been in an upward trend suggests that more holders have been keeping their coins longer. As the correction evolves, the reaction of long-term holders may play a critical role in determining the next possible direction for the flagship cryptocurrency asset.