The Japanese bankruptcy trustee overseeing funds from defunct Bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox has extended its payout deadline by yet another year. Many who’d looked forward to the end of October 2024 to find out if they’d receive a payout now have another year to wait—until October 31, 2025, CoinGeek.com reported. This was due to many remaining creditors still not receiving payouts, having missed key submission deadlines, or after encountering other issues in the process. At stake are the remains of Mt. Gox’s 2014 deposit pool of JPY698,246,328 and around 200,000 BTC.

Japan saw the highest number of bankruptcies since 2013 in the six months through September, as companies were increasingly hit by rising costs, Bloomberg News reported. Some 4,990 firms went bankrupt in that period, increasing 18.6% from the previous year, according to a report by Teikoku Databank on Tuesday. The number of firms going under in Japan has continued to increase since the second half of the year ending March 2022. The jump in bankruptcies partly reflects the impact of higher prices, particularly for small companies.

The Bank of Japan indicated it remains on track to consider more interest rate hikes by upgrading its assessments for two regional economies, while also offering little evidence of any need for immediate action, Bloomberg News reported. The BOJ raised it economic assessments for the Hokuriku and Tokai regions in its quarterly regional report Monday. In a separate release summarizing the views of branch managers who met to discuss the report, the bank said many reported widening perceptions among business leaders that wages need to keep rising next year.

Japan's central bank has scope to raise interest rates further but must move cautiously and slowly to avoid hurting the economy, a dovish policymaker said on Thursday, reinforcing market views it will be in no rush to lift borrowing costs, Reuters reported. The comments from Bank of Japan board member Asahi Noguchi come a day after Japan's new prime minister, Shigeru Ishiba, said the economy was not ready for further rate hikes, in surprisingly blunt remarks that pushed the yen lower.

A shrinking and rapidly aging population has forced Japan, which for centuries was mostly closed off to immigrants, to allow foreign workers to enter the country and potentially stay for good, the New York Times reported. Most come from other parts of Asia, including China, Vietnam and the Philippines. That transition to employing more foreign workers has proceeded gradually at big companies in major cities over the past decade.

Japan’s industrial production declined more than expected in August, with uncertainties over the global economy further clouding the outlook for the country’s manufacturing sector, the Wall Street Journal reported. Industrial output fell 3.3% in August from the previous month, government data showed Monday. That compared with a 0.9% decline expected in a poll of economists by data provider Quick and July’s 3.1% increase. Companies expect production to increase 2.0% on month in September, according to the data.

Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda reiterated his cautious tone on Tuesday and said the central bank can wait to act until economic uncertainties become clearer, dampening speculation over another rate increase in October, the Wall Street Journal reported. “In making policy decisions, the bank will need to carefully assess factors such as developments in financial and capital markets at home and abroad and the situation in overseas economies underlying these developments. We have enough time to do so,” Ueda said in a speech to business leaders in Osaka.