[2018-08-14] Turkish Bitcoin Volume Soars as Traders Flee the Lira

[ruthbabe]

Trading volume on Turkish cryptocurrency exchanges has soared over the last 24 hours as citizens have sought refuge from the weakened lira. Turkey’s national currency has faced a torrid time on a day when President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused the US of trying to “stab it in the back”. Trade volume on domestic exchange Btcturk is up 350% in the last 24 hours, with BTC capturing 38% of the action. Read more, https://news.bitcoin.com/turkish-bitcoin-volume-soars-as-traders-flee-the-lira/

Do you think the Turkish lira can recover or will the flight to cryptocurrency increase? Let us know your thoughts below.

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[buwaytress]

We've seen this happen in broken economies with hyperinflation plaguing national currencies (Zimbabwe, now Venezuela). We've seen it happen in countries facing economic sanctions and people unable to send money abroad to families and diaspora (Iran). I didn't expect to see it happen so quickly in Turkey, but here we are. They've got a really budding Bitcoin and blockchain community there already, and enthusiasm has been growing, if I can judge by the number of Turkish language content I've been seeing across crypto.

Their citizens are probably one of the most active users of fintech... Revolut for example is already big over there and with the Turkish community I interact with, now that even these apps and tools are slowly restricting them, they'll be flocking to Bitcoin.

Welcome to the revolution!

[Lucius]

It seems that the relations between Turkey and the USA getting worse with each passing day, and fact that turkish lira is lost 45% compared to the dollar since the beginning of this year tells us that something very serious is happening in Turkey. 4 days ago Trump posted a tweet that USA is doubling tariffs on steel and aluminum, and lira is drop by 20%. This is the classic method of economic blackmail performed by USA government, all with the intention to change something in Turkey.

Erdogan will ask for help from some other countries (China&Russia), but given the huge external debt of 400$+ billion at the end of 2017, more then 50% of GDP, such a collapse of the national currency will make things more difficult.

Some will seek safety in BTC, smart ones already done it before - but it is known fact that less then 1% of world population is using BTC - probably the percentage of people in Turkey is not much bigger then that.

[Kprawn]

https://money.cnn.com/2018/08/14/investing/turkey-lira-emerging-market-crisis/index.html

Looks like this crisis is triggered by Donald Trump... I will quote from the article above : " Turkey's currency plunged as much

as 18.5% on Friday after Trump vowed to double the steel and aluminum tariffs he imposed on Turkey. " His political decisions

has devastating consequences on emerging markets globally. If this continues, then most people in these emerging markets

will have to run to safe havens like Bitcoin. 

[Lucius]

https://money.cnn.com/2018/08/14/investing/turkey-lira-emerging-market-crisis/index.html

Looks like this crisis is triggered by Donald Trump... I will quote from the article above : " Turkey's currency plunged as much

as 18.5% on Friday after Trump vowed to double the steel and aluminum tariffs he imposed on Turkey. " His political decisions

has devastating consequences on emerging markets globally. If this continues, then most people in these emerging markets

will have to run to safe havens like Bitcoin. 

Too bad that you not read even a single post in this thread, I write the same thing and you just repeated same news with quote again...

Turkey's financial crisis is created with some intention, first was a failed military coup and now someone is targeting their financial system - it is not necessary to be too intelligent to sum up two and two in this story. I just hope we will not see third phase in Turkey, and this is war...

Can BTC make any difference in Turkey now? I think not, there is simply no sufficient infrastructure, no BTC ATMs and even few biggest exchanges in Turkey recorded 100%+ increase in volume they only have 11+ million $ in 24 hour of trading, rather insignificant amount compared to the global volume.

[Sutters Mill]

We've seen this happen in broken economies with hyperinflation plaguing national currencies (Zimbabwe, now Venezuela). We've seen it happen in countries facing economic sanctions and people unable to send money abroad to families and diaspora (Iran). I didn't expect to see it happen so quickly in Turkey, but here we are. They've got a really budding Bitcoin and blockchain community there already, and enthusiasm has been growing, if I can judge by the number of Turkish language content I've been seeing across crypto.

Their citizens are probably one of the most active users of fintech... Revolut for example is already big over there and with the Turkish community I interact with, now that even these apps and tools are slowly restricting them, they'll be flocking to Bitcoin.

Welcome to the revolution!

I've always wondered if bitcoin could ever by adopted by a country with a failing economy or one where their currency has become worthless due to hyperinflation like Zimbabwean dollars. It would be huge for bitcoin if it became the default currency of a nation and I think this could actually happen at some point due to people looking for alternatives to their nation's failing currency. Not sure how well it would work out with bitcoin's drastic volatility but if it kept rising the people who adopted it would certainly be very happy and supply and demand would likely keep it going if an entire country was behind it.

Can BTC make any difference in Turkey now? I think not, there is simply no sufficient infrastructure, no BTC ATMs and even few biggest exchanges in Turkey recorded 100%+ increase in volume they only have 11+ million $ in 24 hour of trading, rather insignificant amount compared to the global volume.

You don't need ATMs. You only need them to withdraw fiat. Besides, existing regular fiat ATMs could even be adapted to deal with btc. It wouldn't be difficult to do at all. You can still just do cash trades or use exchanges. Thigns would quickly change and adapt to meet demand however.

[AXELNetwork]

Do you think the Turkish lira can recover or will the flight to cryptocurrency increase? Let us know your thoughts below.

It will likely increase, it doesn't seem like the Lira will recover anytime soon so what we're seeing is something similar to what happened in Venezuela.

[BitHodler]

Besides, existing regular fiat ATMs could even be adapted to deal with btc. It wouldn't be difficult to do at all. You can still just do cash trades or use exchanges. Thigns would quickly change and adapt to meet demand however.

It's already a real thing in Slovenia. Legacy ATMs of a specific bank allow people to use it for fiat and Bitcoin at the same time. People no longer have to doubt about the legitimacy of shady Bitcoin ATMs asking for ID and such.

I however expected more banks and countries to follow, but there hasn't been any further development in this field. Imagine long queues with people during bull runs trying to FOMO in just to be part of the rally. 

I know how things go when the price spikes because there is an ATM located near me and I frequently (just for the lols) check how crowded the ATM corner is, and it is enjoying a significant amount of use despite its fees.

[snipie]

Bitcoin remains the safest place to hold your money in countries with economics difficulties especially if sanctions are taking place like Turkey now. Although, this economic crisis may just be temporary but it incites people about the benefits of following cryptocurrency revolution 

[aoluain]

Bitcoin remains the safest place to hold your money in countries with economics difficulties especially if sanctions are taking place like Turkey now. Although, this economic crisis may just be temporary but it incites people about the benefits of following cryptocurrency revolution 

Yes the crisis may be averted as Quatar are giving Turkey a $15bn loan.
Its funny how the U.S imposes tarrifs on Turkish metal, this affects the
weak turkish Lira and we still refer to currency in $'s

It is definitely heartening to see bitcoin used as an escape method while
the local FIAT collapses. We will definitely see this happening again and
again as countries struggle in the future.

[1Referee]

It is definitely heartening to see bitcoin used as an escape method while
the local FIAT collapses. We will definitely see this happening again and
again as countries struggle in the future.

The only positive aspect is that buying properties and whatnot in Turkey for foreigners has become a whole lote mor interesting with strong EUR and USD. In the end everything has its pros and cons, and these shaky countries quite often offer the best possible investment opportunities. Horrible situation for the locals, great opportunities arise for foreign investors.

1BTC = 36,800 Lira, which is like a small fortune in Turkey. People in normal circumstances can do equally as much or even more with 1 Lira in Turkey than they can do with 1 EUR/USD in their own country. I have actually considered buying into Lira with my EUR, but haven't done so yet because I think we haven't seen the worst yet.

[Betwrong]

By the irony of circumstances the very people who support Erdogan will suffer most from this situation. Western-oriented folks are exchanging Turkish Lira for BTC and in 4-6 months they will be thankful that they were forced to do that, while mostly uneducated Erdogan supporters are not only not buying BTC but burning their US Dollars ridiculing the US and the Trump administration. It's not hard to predict that in several months they will be even poorer than they are now.

To be honest, it's a doubtful pleasure to be gloating over the misfortunes of others. But, c'mon people! Educate yourself! We are living in the era of the Internet ffs.

[onrise]

For now it is good thing for the btc as prices soars due to high volume of buying happening from that country. But considering in some months when the Lira gets stronger people will dump btc and at that time market may fall just like how it is rising now. Will need to wait and see how the markets react.

[Lucius]

Do you think the Turkish lira can recover or will the flight to cryptocurrency increase? Let us know your thoughts below.

It will likely increase, it doesn't seem like the Lira will recover anytime soon so what we're seeing is something similar to what happened in Venezuela.

I can only say someone wants to make a new Venezuela in this part of word, but it will not be an easy task. Turkey already started with countermeasures and pump some 15$ billion in its financial system (Qatar loan), which was immediately visible on lira rise to US $, but also with Turkish higher import tariffs on US products like cars, alcohol, and tobacco.

It is interesting that in some European countries there is a great demand for Turkish lira, people are buying it cheap to profit when go on vacation in that country. Is that smart or not they will see when they get there, but it is true that average person can get more lira for they money now then before.

[FXTradingPro]

Do you think the Turkish lira can recover or will the flight to cryptocurrency increase? Let us know your thoughts below.

The Turkish Lira and the Turkish economy are in complete shambles and will not recover anytime soon. He has family members running the economy and central bank. Turkey has taken a hard-line stance with the US and in this day and age that can't end up good. BTC is an ideal choice for the Turkish people.

[jjacob]

I am surprised that this is happening in Turkey, because there are no capital controls in place. People can buy and decide to hold dollars, if they are uncomfortable holding Lira. There is a threat of the government imposing capital controls, but there are none at the moment.

[darkangel11]

I am surprised that this is happening in Turkey, because there are no capital controls in place. People can buy and decide to hold dollars, if they are uncomfortable holding Lira. There is a threat of the government imposing capital controls, but there are none at the moment.

They are doing it because they're fed up with fiat money. They were being told that Lira represents stable value, so they weren't really preparing for the crisis, and living their normal lives. Getting paid a certain amount every month, saving up, whatever they could... and suddenly their savings became worth 50% of what they used to be. Imagine the horror of a minimum wage worker who finds out that with the current value of his money he must have been working for half or less than half of the minimum wage for the past 10 (or more) years. Suddenly you come to a conclusion that you were working for food and water, like a slave. In 2015 you could buy a car with your savings, kept saving for another 2 years, but you now can't even buy that same car, even though you have more money.

[Samarkand]

...
Imagine the horror of a minimum wage worker who finds out that with the current value of his money he must have been working for half
or less than half of the minimum wage for the past 10 (or more) years. Suddenly you come to a conclusion that you were working for food and water, like a slave.
...

I think you overestimate the amount of savings that most minimum wage workers have
accumulated. Most are just getting by without saving anything. Of course it is still a tragedy
for the workers, who actually were able to save at least a fraction of their income.

From the article:

While Turkey’s interior ministry has been threatening to take legal action against almost 350
social media accounts deemed to have made “provocative” comments against the lira,
cryptocurrency holders have been busy exchanging their TRY for BTC, XRP, and ETH

Imagine getting rid of your worthless Turkish Lira and buying a shitcoin
like XRP or ETH.

• Turkish Lira is down  ~70 % for the year
• XRP is down ~86 % for the year
• ETH is down ~61 % for the year

Jump out of the frying pan into the fire...

[darkangel11]

...
Imagine the horror of a minimum wage worker who finds out that with the current value of his money he must have been working for half
or less than half of the minimum wage for the past 10 (or more) years. Suddenly you come to a conclusion that you were working for food and water, like a slave.
...

I think you overestimate the amount of savings that most minimum wage workers have
accumulated. Most are just getting by without saving anything. Of course it is still a tragedy
for the workers, who actually were able to save at least a fraction of their income.

From the article:

While Turkey’s interior ministry has been threatening to take legal action against almost 350
social media accounts deemed to have made “provocative” comments against the lira,
cryptocurrency holders have been busy exchanging their TRY for BTC, XRP, and ETH

Imagine getting rid of your worthless Turkish Lira and buying a shitcoin
like XRP or ETH.

• Turkish Lira is down  ~70 % for the year
• XRP is down ~86 % for the year
• ETH is down ~61 % for the year

Jump out of the frying pan into the fire...

I wouldn't be too sad about that ETH investment. I'd still save up 9% compared to the Lira and it's actually a promising altcoin with quite a high chance of making a bounce, even if it ends up being a dead cat. ETH going up by 10% in the next 3 months is very probable while the same thing happening to the Lira in such a short time is almost impossible. Fiat currencies have a tendency to remain in the same state for many months. If they go down, you can expect more trouble, while a crypto downtrend is mainly caused by fear.

[Samarkand]

...
I wouldn't be too sad about that ETH investment. I'd still save up 9% compared to the Lira and it's actually a promising altcoin with quite a high chance of making a bounce, even if it ends up being a dead cat.
...

But why would you want to buy ETH when you could also buy BTC, which is obviously
the better coin? According to the article getting money to the exchanges isn´t really
a problem for the Turkish users (no real capital controls) and therefore they can pick
between all available cryptocurrencies. I´d argue that BTC is much more suitable
for wealth preservation than Scamthereum Ethereum.

Additionally, I assume that every bounce of the ETH price will immediately compel
ICO founders to get rid of further parts of their ICO proceeds. Some ICOs
are sitting on hundreds of millions worth of ETH (especially big ICOs like
Tezos that raised a ton of ETH before the end of 2017 bull run) and they will have to liquidate their
ETH at some point.