Bitcoin Hits Record $106K as US Considers Reserve, Japan Explores Crypto Options

Bitcoin has hit a fresh new high of US$106k (AU$166k) on Monday morning Australian time, topping at US$106,488 (AU$167,233) just before Midday, local time. The surge comes as Donald Trump told CNBC that his administration intends to establish a Bitcoin reserve, or something of that sort. 

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His exact words when asked whether the US would create a BTC reserve were, “Yes, I think so”.

Trump had kicked off the Bitcoin-as-a-reserve topic during the Bitcoin conference in Tennessee. Senator Cynthia Lummis later introduced a bill to congress with the apt title, Bitcoin Act – which stands for ‘Boosting Innovation, Technology and Competitiveness Through Optimized Investment Nationwide’.

Lawmaker Urges Japan to Explore Bitcoin

Governments creating Bitcoin reserves is the talk of the town right now, with the US, Brazil, Russia and Poland all in varying stages of investing into BTC. Now Japan joins the ranks of these Bitcoin-curious countries.

Japanese lawmaker Satoshi Hamada has launched a bid for his country to explore adding the largest crypto to its national stockpile. The request was made to the National Diet on December 11, and is titled “Questions on the status of understanding the movement to introduce Bitcoin reserves in the United States and other countries”.

According to a post on X, Hamada said he would like to find out what the Japanese Government’s views are on this and that “consideration should be given to this matter”. He also asked whether Japan should consider a crypto or Bitcoin allocation.

Should Japan also introduce a system to convert part of its foreign exchange reserves into crypto assets such as Bitcoin?

Satoshi Hamada

Thailand Should Study Bitcoin, Says Former PM

Meanwhile, another Asian nation seems to be considering venturing deeper into the crypto-verse. Thaksin Shinawatra, the former Prime Minister of Thailand, said during a speech that his country ought to study crypto and continue to experiment with it.

Thai publication Money and Banking Online wrote that during a special lecture, the former PM said he doesn’t suggest a national reserve but rather to study the field to remain relevant.

What I am saying is not to buy it, but the trend is like that. There are already many cryptocurrencies. Some people say that in the future, we will have more currencies than countries. Today, Thai people must think and understand this.

Thaksin Shinawatra

Thailand is one of a few Asian countries, like Singapore, that experiment with crypto through a dedicated regulatory sandbox. Thailand’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) had announced such a regulatory sandbox in early August.

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The Thai SEC said it will be targeting a range of digital asset services such as exchanges, brokers and fund managers. Participants, selected based on criteria like capital adequacy and management structure, can test their innovations in the Thai capital market under a regulated framework for up to one year, with the possibility of extension.