According to a report, the popularity of cryptocurrency in Turkey’s economically troubled country has continued to rise with daily trades exceeding one million. The depreciating Turkish lira, which fell to an all-time low against USD on December 20, is responsible for the surge in trades.
Lira Plunges
A Reuters report citing Chainalysis, Kaiko and data stated that cryptocurrency trading volumes in Turkey are now at over one million dollars per day.
According to the report, the return to over a million trades per day has come at a time when Turkey’s fiat currency, the lira, has depreciated by almost 40% since September. Prior to the latest surge, cryptocurrency trades in Turkey had previously surpassed the one million per day mark after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s unexpected dismissal of the central bank governor on March 22.
After the resignation of Naci Agbal (then-governor), inflation fears among Turks erupted and led to a steep drop in the lira. However, after a period of relative stability — which in turn led to reduced cryptocurrency transactions — trades per day went above the one million mark again after the lira’s latest plunge.
The latest data show that on December 20, 2021, the lira fell to 18.10 dollars per dollar. After the announcement of a rescue program by the government, however, the lira is now at 12.50.
Cryptocurrency: Gold Restrictions are a boon
According to Reuters, the recent rise in cryptocurrency trading may have been caused by restrictions imposed over the past year which made it more difficult for Turks convert their lira into gold. Bitcoin’s race to a new all-time high of more than $69K in November is also said to have contributed to the surge in trades.
The report stated that the two most commonly used cryptocurrencies by Turks are bitcoin and the stablecoin USDT. This is evidenced by data showing that the TRY/USDT pair is one of the most traded pairs while the fiat currency’s pair with BTC is the 12th most traded.
Turkish officials are switching more to crypto currencies, just months after their central bank banned the use of cryptocurrency assets for payment. Erdogan said that the country was at war with cryptocurrency.
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