Turkey's Economic Woes Push Investors Towards Stablecoin Tether – Here's the Latest

cryptonews.com:

As Turkey’s economic woes continue to deteriorate with lira spiraling downwards, investors are turning to cryptocurrency as a safe haven. 

Local demand for Tether, the largest dollar-backed stablecoin, surged in early May ahead of the election and has remained high since, according to a recent report from Bloomberg.

Tether's share of trading volumes on one of the biggest Turkish crypto exchanges, BTCTurk, stands at 20% compared to 1% on Binance, highlighting how strong the demand for stablecoin in Turkish markets is and its immense popularity as a way of protecting capital. 

Turkey's President Erdogan is known for his unorthodox economic policies since the last election in 2018, including attempts to cut interest rates to temper inflation as high as 80% and ignoring standard monetary practices. 

This has led to the lira dropping by 80% in value, causing concern among its citizens as its buying power continues to plummet. 

While regulations have made it difficult to buy dollars or gold with the lira, investors have hijacked a window of opportunities provided by cryptocurrencies such as Tether. 

“Investing in stablecoins allows people to keep the value of their wealth, it’s one of the ways to hold on to some value when inflation is this high. This is the only motivation for people to buy stablecoins right now," Istanbul-based university lecturer and former banker, Ebru Güven, said. 

A large number of investors share similar views, as the current financial situation in Turkey has made stablecoins an increasingly attractive prospect.

Batuhan Basoglu, a 28-year-old graphic designer, told Bloomberg that he traded his savings to Tether and other cryptocurrencies following the election, expressing uncertainty surrounding the lira’s