Turkish Bitcoin holders are avoiding an escalating currency crisis as the Turkish lira falls 15% versus the US dollar in a single day
With its recent price fall, Bitcoin (BTC) has disappointed investors, but BTC hodlers in one country have never been happier.
TradingView data from Nov. 23 indicated that Bitcoin has surpassed previous all-time highs versus the Turkish lira.
Bitcoin surpasses the 700,000 lire mark
Turkey is fighting an undeclared currency crisis as President Recep Tayyip Erdoan works to keep interest rates low.
As a result, the lira’s exchange rate has de facto collapsed, with USD/TRY gaining 14 percent on Tuesday alone to break through 13 for the first time.
While Turks watch their purchasing power erode in real-time, those with a BTC allotment can perhaps see the advantages of hard money more plainly than ever before.
BTC/TRY hit an all-time high of 723,329 Turkish lira on Binance Tuesday, the latest in a string of near-constant all-time highs.
Last week, MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor declared, “Bitcoin is hope for Turkey.”
“Since March, the currency has lost a third of its value and has fallen for nine years in a row. Converting TRY to USD will only delay the collapse, whereas adopting BTC will undo the damage and rebuild the economy.”
“Bitcoin marketing departments”??
BtcTurk, one of a tiny handful of indigenous exchanges, handled roughly 1,000 BTC ($56.7 million) in trade on its BTC/TRY pair in the last 24 hours, according to its own data.
As events transpired, expert Lex Moskovski replied, “Central banks are essentially Bitcoin marketing departments.”
Under Erdoan, who declared “war” on cryptocurrencies in September, the exchange business has struggled.
Another platform, Thodex, was embroiled in a scandal earlier this year after closing down and its CEO, Faruk Fatih zer, fleeing with $2 billion in assets.
Despite the failure and imprisonment of at least six of his associates, zer is still on the loose.
