The Turkish lira has become so volatile that Turks have ditched the local currency for assets with an even riskier reputation: cryptocurrencies. While

Turks Pile Into Bitcoin and Tether to Escape Plunging Lira

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2022-01-12 14:30:13

The Turkish lira has become so volatile that Turks have ditched the local currency for assets with an even riskier reputation: cryptocurrencies.

While the lira unraveled against the dollar in the last quarter of 2021, cryptocurrency trading volumes using the lira leapt to an average $1.8 billion a day across three exchanges, according to blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis. Those volumes are still modest compared with the results of a 2019 survey by the Bank for International Settlements that found roughly $71 billion of lira transactions a day, but even so are more than any of the preceding five quarters.

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