Turks have embraced cryptocurrencies despite an official ban introduced last year after the lira unraveled against the dollar, The Wall Street Journal reports. According to the report, two-thirds of Turkey's banking deposits are mostly dollars and euros.
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Stablecoins are also popular gateway to trade in and out of positions in more volatile coins such as bitcoin and ether. Turkish crypto exchange Bitlo's CMO, Esra Alpay, said the exchange experienced a growth of the number of new traders last quarter as the lira's value dropped significantly.
"The Turkish lira's volatility and rising inflation seen in recent months has led our investors to see cryptocurrency as a profitable investment in the long term and as a hedge against inflation in the short term," Alpay added.
In September 2021, Turkey's president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, said the authorities and the Central Bank of Turkey have no problems with opening up to cryptocurrencies, on the contrary, they are "waging a separate war and fight" with them. Erdoğan noted though that the country does not intend to contribute to the proliferation of private digital assets, but will continue to use its own currency.
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