Amidst all the hustle and bustle of the crypto scene, let's take a quick moment to appreciate bitcoin for what it is at its core: a hedge against the volatility and corruption of traditional fiat systems.
Today, we give you two recent examples:
Turkey
Bitcoin prices are soaring to new ATH’s against the Lira on local exchanges. In fact, BTC was recently trading ~1.3% higher on Turkey's largest exchange than in the rest of the world.
The reason? The nation's currency, the Lira, has dropped a staggering ~30% against the U.S. dollar since January.
Turkish Lira Weakens to Fresh Record Low. TRY #BTC
— #Michael Saylor⚡️ (#@saylor)
6:58 PM • Jul 18, 2023
Last week, to battle its whopping ~40% inflation rate, Turkey hiked up its interest rates to a solid 17.5%. Tough times indeed.
Japan
Japan is also seeing a surge in BTC investing.
Looking closely, the total trading volume on Japanese exchanges rose to $4 billion in June alone, marking to a 60% YTD surge. And in case you were thinking it was just Asia in general, it’s not, as Korea is down more than 25% over the same period.
Couple this with the fact that the share of bitcoin trade volume on Japanese exchanges is currently at 80% and it’s safe to say Japan is making a significant push into BTC.
But, why the rush?
Because since the Fed started aggressively hiking rates, the Japanese yen has been depreciated sharply (6.3% against the U.S. dollar), registering one of the most severe exchange rate turbulence on record.
In similar fashion with Turkey, BTC has traded at an average premium ranging between 0.5% and 1.25% on Japanese markets this year.
Bottom line: While fiat currencies around the world are fighting inflation and shackling people with sky-high interest rates… bitcoin still stands as a viable solution and alternative.
