Bitcoin Rises To $100,000 In Turkish P2P Markets As Lira Collapses

The cost of buying bitcoins on Turkey's peer-to-peer cryptocurrency markets is over $100,000. According to LocalBitcoins.com, the minimum ask price for bitcoins reached 509,840 Turkish lira, which is roughly the equivalent of $64,000. Meanwhile, some offline exchanges charge up to $100,000 in lira for the flagship cryptocurrency, nearly double the global ask price.

Astronomical price levels emerged after a significant drop in the value of the Turkish lira. The currency fell as much as 14% on Monday after President Recep ERDOGAN fired the country's central bank chairman, who is credited with pulling the lira out of its downtrend earlier in the year. The ouster of the country's central bank chairman was a sign that the Turkish president was unwilling to raise rates to contain explosive inflation, according to Max Lin, emerging markets currency strategist at NatWest Markets. The lira is now in danger of falling further due to its current competitiveness.

Bitcoin is a reliable financial asset against inflation. Cryptocurrencies, outside the control of governments and central banks, have proven to be an attractive defense in countries undergoing catastrophic policy changes. Hyperinflation in Venezuela and Zimbabwe, Greece's debt crisis and capital controls in China have fueled interest in Bitcoin in the past. Since the fall of the Turkish lira, the number of searches for the keyword «bitcoin» on Google has almost doubled.

Image: Kryptomoney