**Bitcoin Takes a Hit: Here's What's Actually Going Down**

BTC dropped to $84.2K this week, and it's not random. Japan just unleashed a ¥21.3 trillion ($135B) stimulus package to ease inflation—sounds good, right? Wrong. Markets got spooked. The yen tanked to 10-month lows, 10-year bond yields hit 1.84% (highest since 2008), and now traders think BOJ rate hikes are coming.

Here's the domino effect: When yen was weak, carry traders loved it—borrow cheap yen, swap to dollars, dump into risky assets like crypto. Now? The playbook is reversing. As BOJ signals rate hikes, capital's flowing OUT, not in. Result: BTC bleeding.

**The Silver Linings**

Amid the chaos, there's some good news. Bitcoin bar PubKey just opened in D.C. with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent showing up (symbolic? you decide). Meanwhile, **Canada's parliament locked in the first serious stablecoin rules**—issuers need proper reserves, redemption policies, risk management. Unlike the U.S.'s harder stance, Canada's going with a registration system instead of outright bans. Analysts reckon this clears the path for institutional stablecoin plays.

**And the Dark Side Gets Darker**

UK's National Crime Agency just dropped a bomb: they busted a $33M+ crypto laundering ring tied to Russian sanctions evasion, weapons smuggling, and drug trafficking. TGR network ran ops across 28 UK cities, used crypto to launder dirty money through Keremet Bank in Kyrgyzstan. 128 arrests, £25M seized. Shows crypto's still the go-to tool for serious crime.