US$1 BILLION DOWN, WHY IS JAPAN STILL IN LOVE WITH BITCOIN?

*Even as other Asian nations pull back, the world’s two largest cryptocurrency thefts haven’t turned Tokyo off the blockchain phenomenon

*The two largest cryptocurrency heists in the world with losses totalling almost a billion dollars at exchanges in Tokyo, and a cultural tendency towards conservatism, seem to have barely dampened Japan’s enthusiasm for bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

*Decades of stagnation since the bursting of the bubble economy at the dawn of the 1990s has left the government grasping for growth drivers.

*While Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s “Abenomics” brought some relief, the shrinking population and tax base, combined with massive national debt, mean the longer-term prognosis remains precarious.

*Cryptocurrencies and the related technologies offer potential for growth, tax income, and a leadership niche for Japan as other regional economies such as China and South Korea push back against them.