cointelegraph.com
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 Erdogan 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.
"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.
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"Central banks are just Bitcoin marketing departments," analyst Lex Moskovski reacted as events unfolded.
The exchange sector has faced difficult times under Erdogan, 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 Ozer, absconding with funds worth $2 billion at the time.
Despite the debacle and jailing of at least six of his associates, Ozer remains at large.