Bitcoin hits new all-time high in Turkey as fiat currency lira goes into freefall

Turkish Bitcoin holders avoid an accelerating currency collapse as the lira loses 15% against the U.S. dollar in a single day.

Bitcoin (BTC) has frustrated investors with its recent price correction, but in one country, BTC hodlers have never been more relieved.

Market data from TradingView on Nov. 23 confirmed that Bitcoin has hit new all-time highs against the Turkish lira.

Bitcoin passes 700,000 lira

Turkey is unofficially battling a currency crisis as President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan pushes to keep interest rates low.

The result has been the de facto collapse of the lira’s exchange rate, with USD/TRY gaining 14% on Tuesday alone to pass 13 for the first time.

While Turks witness their purchasing power decline in real-time, those with a BTC allocation can arguably see the benefits of hard money more clearly than ever.

BTC/TRY reached 723,329 Turkish lira on Binance Tuesday, the latest in a series of all-time highs, which have come almost non-stop. 

“Bitcoin is hope for Turkey,” Michael Saylor, CEO of MicroStrategy, said last week.

“The currency has lost a third of its value since March and declined for nine consecutive years. Conversion from TRY to USD will merely slow the collapse, while adoption of BTC will reverse the damage & revitalize the economy.”

“Bitcoin marketing departments”

According to its own data, BtcTurk, one of a small number of homegrown exchanges, handled around 1,000 BTC ($56.7 million) in volume on its BTC/TRY pair over the past 24 hours.

Related: El Salvador’s dollar debt dives on Bitcoin bond plans

“Central banks are just Bitcoin marketing departments,” analyst Lex Moskovski reacted as events unfolded.

The exchange sector has faced difficult times under Erdoğan, who declared “war” against cryptocurrencies in September.

Another platform, Thodex, was at the center of a scandal earlier this year after shutting down, and its CEO, Faruk Fatih Özer, absconding with funds worth $2 billion at the time.

Despite the debacle and jailing of at least six of his associates, Özer remains at large.