Tether and Shib became rivals to BTC amid lira collapse

Trading activity in pairs of Turkish lira with Shiba Inu and Tether more than five times higher than bitcoin amid the sharp devaluation of the lira. CoinDesk writes about it.

Following the results of November on Binance the volume of trades with lira with BTC was $918 million, with SHIB and USDT – $5.26 billion and $5.58 billion respectively. Data: Binance, CoinDesk.

Turkish traders are interested in SHIB coin

“The outstanding gains connected with coins like SHIB continue to entice local traders,” said Strahinja Savic, head of data and analytics at crypto platform FRNT Financial.

The lira has weakened against the dollar for the ninth straight year. The pace reached 39.7% in November. Since the beginning of the year, the currency has collapsed 46.5% – the third best result in the world. Only the Cuban peso (-95.8%) and the Libyan dinar (-70.9%) fared worse.

Inflation in Turkey jumped to a three-year high of 21.31%, according to TradingEconomics.

The Turkish people still place a high value on gold and the dollar.

“Turkish citizens place a high value on gold and the dollar. Because BTC is so expensive, they also buy cheap cryptocurrencies like SHIB, VET, and XRP “Sabri Aygun, an Istanbul-based crypto investor, explained.

According to CoinGecko, at the time of writing, bitcoin was valued at 679,904 lira, Tether at 14 lira and Shiba Inu at almost 0.0005 lira.

Cryptocurrencies are perceived by the public as a measure of capital preservation. This may create additional pressure on the local currency exchange rate.

In May, Turkey-based cryptocurrency exchanges were required to notify the Financial Crimes Investigation Board of user transactions exceeding the 10,000 lira (~$1200) limit.

Recall that the Bank of Turkey has defined cryptocurrency as a non-monetary asset and banned its use as a form of payment.

In June, the regulator criticized bitcoin for its negative impact on the environment.