Bitcoin has been recognized as a hedge against global events and the COVID-19 pandemic was a strong example of this. As the global economies are still recovering from the massive hit of the pandemic, Turkey is seeing its people actively looking for alternatives to its fiat currency, the Turkish Lira.
Data suggests that the value of Bitcoin soared in the Turkey markets as the value of the Lira collapsed by 17% within a day. This fall in the fiat’s value was the worst drop witnessed in almost 20 years. As the value of the Lira dropped, the users went to the prominent search engine ‘Google’ to find Bitcoin. Data from Google Trends indicated that the search for Bitcoin in the country noted a massive uptick by 566%.
Source: Trends.google.com
The falling of the fiat followed the decision by President Erdogan to remove Naci Agbal, the head of the country’s central bank.
The country had hiked its interest rate last week, but the fiat reversed its journey in the market and lost all the gains in the first quarter. The value of the Lira fell by 14% in a flash dip after the announcement made by the President.
The currency crisis has triggered the adoption of Bitcoin in the country just like other economically weak nations like Venezuela that also has a depreciating fiat currency.
This dip experienced by the fiat pushed more people towards Bitcoin. This push was visible in the peer-to-peer market as the value of Bitcoin surged in the country to $100,000. Data suggested that the minimum ask price for the digital asset hit 509,840 Turkish Lira [~$64,000]. Whereas, some offline exchanges had pegged the price as high as $100,000 in Lira for a single Bitcoin.
Source: LocalBitcoins
Currently, the value of Bitcoin in global markets is close to $58k, however, the price quoted by exchanges in Turkey was almost twice the amount. As the country deals with another massive blow to its economy, the refreshed interest of the citizens and the government about crypto could be helpful in stabilizing the fallout.
The Government of Turkey has been working on laying regulations for crypto and recently made it clear that it was working with its Central bank regarding digital assets in the country. Now that more people were steering towards Bitcoin and the rally that has been witnessed, the government may have to amp up the efforts to form these guidelines.
