Bitcoin Bulls Eye Dollar Weakness As Yen Intervention Rumors Build
Bitcoin merchants are as soon as once more anchoring to FX, after intervention rumors round USD/JPY revived a well-known tug-of-war: short-term shock threat from a strengthening yen versus the longer-horizon bid that sometimes follows a softer greenback and simpler world liquidity.
The spark over the weekend was a viral X thread (2.9 million views) from Bull Theory (@BullTheoryio), which framed reported “fee checks” by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York as a prelude to coordinated motion. “The New York Fed has already achieved fee checks, which is the precise step taken earlier than actual foreign money intervention,” the account wrote. “That means the US is making ready to promote {dollars} and purchase yen. This is uncommon. And traditionally, when this occurs, world markets surge.”
Bitcoin In The Crosshairs
Bull Theory pointed to the macro backdrop in Japan, years of yen weak point, Japanese bond yields at multi-decade highs, and a still-hawkish Bank of Japan, because the strain cooker forcing officers towards extra aggressive signaling. In the thread’s telling, the important thing variable is coordination: Japan performing alone “doesn’t work,” whereas joint US-Japan motion “does,” citing 1998 and the Plaza Accord period as historic reference factors.
A Bloomberg report cited by the account described the yen’s sharp leap on hypothesis that Japanese authorities might be making ready intervention to arrest the foreign money’s slide, after merchants reported the New York Fed had performed fee checks with main banks. The story mentioned the yen rallied as a lot as roughly 1.6% to round 155.90 per greenback, marking its strongest stage since December in that session.
THE FED IS PREPARING TO SELL U.S. DOLLARS AND BUY JAPANESE YEN FOR THE FIRST TIME THIS CENTURY.
The New York Fed has already achieved fee checks, which is the precise step taken earlier than actual foreign money intervention. That means the U.S. is making ready to promote {dollars} and purchase yen.
This… pic.twitter.com/7xFReOFoDo
— Bull Theory (@BullTheoryio) January 25, 2026
The combat within the replies was much less about whether or not markets moved and extra about what a “fee examine” truly indicators.
Daniel Kostecki (@Dan_Kostecki) dismissed the viral framing outright, arguing the mechanism is usually misinterpret. “The Japanese requested the NY Fed to behave as their agent within the American market,” Kostecki wrote. “NY Fed workers then began calling banks in New York to carry out the ‘fee examine’—strictly on the Japanese’s request. If officers from Tokyo had known as New York banks, merchants might need ignored it as a ‘native Japanese drawback.’ But when the Fed calls, banks deal with it as a sign {that a} joint intervention (USA + Japan) is likely to be coming.”
That distinction issues for crypto as a result of the thread’s “bull case” leans closely on the concept that promoting {dollars} to purchase yen mechanically weakens the greenback and expands liquidity, circumstances many macro-focused crypto merchants affiliate with risk-asset upside.
Ted (@TedPillows) echoed the liquidity-first interpretation whereas flagging the trail dependency. “The Fed is making ready for a potential yen intervention,” he wrote, earlier than laying out the causal chain: {dollars} bought, yen purchased, greenback weaker, liquidity greater, threat belongings helped, then warning that “a strengthening yen may first trigger an identical crash like in August 2024.” After that, he added, markets may stabilize and rally.
Michael A. Gayed (@leadlagreport), Portfolio Manager of The Free Markets ETF, offered a distinct rationale for why Washington would care, suggesting the Fed is performing to stop a situation the place Japan would wish to promote US Treasuries to boost {dollars} to intervene—“It’s not that Japan will panic. It’s the Fed that may panic,” he wrote.
Bull Theory’s most concrete crypto declare was that the setup accommodates each a near-term entice and a medium-term tailwind. The account argued there are “lots of of billions of {dollars} tied into the yen carry trade,” which means abrupt yen energy can power deleveraging within the very belongings, shares and crypto, funded with low-cost yen borrowing.
As an instance, the account pointed to August 2024, claiming a small BoJ fee hike pushed the yen greater and “Bitcoin crashed from $64K to $49K in six days,” with crypto shedding “$600B in worth.” Bull Theory framed that episode because the template for the “catch” in 2026: yen energy might be poisonous within the first act, even when sustained greenback weak point in the end improves the liquidity backdrop for Bitcoin.
LondonCryptoClub (@LDNCryptoClub) leaned into that lagged-liquidity framing, arguing {that a} weaker greenback tends to filter into threat belongings with a delay, whereas additionally introducing a further US liquidity variable. “Continued and accelerated breakdown of the greenback can be good for Bitcoin and broad threat over the subsequent few months,” the account wrote, including that the greenback “tends to behave with a 3 months lag” exterior of “knee jerk reactions.” It additionally warned {that a} potential US authorities shutdown and subsequent Treasury General Account rebuild may offset a number of the optimistic liquidity impulse.
At press time, Bitcoin traded at $87,926.

THE FED IS PREPARING TO SELL U.S. DOLLARS AND BUY JAPANESE YEN FOR THE FIRST TIME THIS CENTURY.