The market is playing a very bizarre game—"Pre-guessing the pre-guess."

The facts are clear: the December 19th rate hike by the Bank of Japan (with a 97% probability) is a done deal. Let’s look at the history—three rate hikes in March 2024, July 2024, and January 2025, each of which has pushed Bitcoin down by more than 20%-30%. Once the world's cheapest yen funding tightens, a wave of liquidations will be enough to flood the entire market.

But the strange thing is, Bitcoin has already retraced about 30% from its high. What does this mean? Has the market already "absorbed" this bearish news? Or has the other shoe not yet truly dropped?

Either way, volatility will be pushed to the extreme. Your assets are tightly intertwined with a distant country's central bank decision, being passively shaken.

The real way to respond is not to guess the central bank governor’s wording, but to leave a "private territory" within your assets—completely detached from the central bank narrative. Not relying on any country's interest rate policies, self-sufficient, stable, and trustworthy.

This is why the value of stablecoins is being redefined at this moment. Take USDD, for example—it’s far more than just a stablecoin. Its stability doesn’t come from betting on USD or JPY exchange rates, but from transparent, fully collateralized assets on-chain. Whether the Bank of Japan is hawkish or dovish next year has no direct impact on USDD. This is the true "defensive asset."