Japan just sent a mining vessel out to a remote coral atoll on January 12 to explore rare earth-rich sediments. The move signals Tokyo's serious effort to break free from its heavy dependence on Chinese critical minerals—something worth watching if you care about global supply chains and resource scarcity. With Beijing controlling the taps on rare earths and essential minerals, countries are scrambling to diversify their sourcing. For the crypto space, this kind of geopolitical jockeying around resource extraction could reshape energy costs and hardware availability down the line. Mining operations, data centers, chip production—they're all interconnected. Japan's play here isn't just about geology; it's about strategic autonomy in a world where mineral dependencies hit as hard as currency wars.