According to The Wall Street Journal, Turks are hastily embracing Bitcoin and USDT, looking to convert plunging Lira and save their money.
Bitcoin and Tether bought massively in Turkey as safe haven from falling Lira
Accordingly, the crypto embrace is now proceeding rapidly in Turkey as the local fiat currency Lira becomes very volatile and plummets against the USD. However, in the traditional financial world, cryptocurrencies are very volatile.
“The Turkish lira has become so volatile that Turks have ditched the local currency for assets with an even riskier reputation: cryptocurrencies. Turks are particularly enamored of the stablecoin Tether”, the Wall Street Journal stated.
By the end of 2021, Lira (TRY) began to plunge against the USD, with Lira-related trading volumes increasing by an average of $1.8 billion per day across three crypto exchanges. Back in 2019, the volume was a lot higher — about $71 billion worth of Lira spent on crypto every day.
The Turkish people are especially chasing stablecoin Tether pegged to USD. In the fall, 2,020 more investors traded Lira against USDT than in the TRY/USD and TRY/EUR pairs.
While Turks usually save in USD and gold, they now choose cryptocurrencies: BTC and Tether. Since September 2021, the Lira has dropped by 40% against the USD, while Bitcoin is up at the same rate against the dollar in early November. Currently, BTC is more than 10% below that level.
Turkish investors have started to get involved in cryptocurrencies, despite a law banning the use of digital currencies as a means of payment in April 2021.
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