In an economic measure the Financial Services Agency in Japan stopped the 8 percent sales tax that was put on bitcoin purchases. This move has come from pressure from the Liberal Democratic Party, which is the ruling party in Japan, to stop putting a tax on the virtual currency. bitcoin is a form of virtual currency that can be used on a peer-to-peer network. The currency is global so it does have the same volatility that are placed on local economies, but more on a global scale.

The investments in bitcoin have surged in recent months, one such reason is that the bitcoin currency has been traded higher since the Brexit political shift in Europe. In June of 2016, the price of Bitcoin was at 750 US Dollars, which was the highest that it had been since the beginning of 2014.

In China, due to the economic problems that the country has been facing with their stock market, Chinese citizens have been investing in bitcoin. Daniel Masters had this to say in article called “Virtual safe haven? Bitcoin surges to highest in more than two years,” by reporter Jemima Kelly, “bitcoin is a global, frictionless, instantaneous form of currency, and it has a fixed supply. In this day and age, that … is becoming very appealing.” Daniel Masters, operates a bitcoin hedge fund called Global Advisors in New Jersey. He will probably take notice that the Japanese have discarded their sales tax on bitcoin. A problem that is being faced in China, is that the country is producing more of the Yuan that it needs to, so this has led to an inflation rate on the currency. The Chinese account for 95 percent of bitcoin exchanges, and it has led to increased demand for it throughout the world.

To seem more competitive with China, that is one of the reasons why bitcoin’s tax was slashed by the Japanese government. This would be a smart economic move, because it would allow for investors of bitcoin to trade with China, but not to face the penalty that they would have to pay to the government.

Bitcoin also have startups that are based in Japan, just like Master’s operation in New Jersey. One company in Tokyo, Coincheck, offers payment in the form yen and bitcoin, but it offers rebates to customers that use the virtual currency. Coincheck is ran by the startup called ResuPress Inc,. and its chief had this to say about the currency in an article from Japan Times, “the use of bitcoin has been growing rapidly worldwide, but there are only a few places in Japan where you can spend it yet.” ResuPess says that the use of bitcoin will be accepted at his locations in Kanto, Kansai and Chubu in the first year of it being implemented.