Even though the asset is currently trading 50% below its peak in US dollars, declining national fiat currencies and an overall unstable economy have contributed to driving bitcoin (BTC) to all-time high prices in Turkey and Nigeria.
Data indicates that bitcoin has crossed price peaks against the Turkish lira and the Nigerian naira due to recent price surges. Bitcoin was trading at 960,000 against the Turkish lira (TRY) and 27.4 million against the Nigerian naira (NGN) as of Friday morning, extending its monthly gains to as much as 30% in local currency.
According to CoinGecko, local cryptocurrency exchanges have transacted $40 million worth of bitcoin in total over the last 24 hours. Locals trading on international exchanges like Binance or Coinbase might not be included in this figure.
In relation to the US dollar, the naira has decreased by 0.45% this month and by 45% over the last six months, while the lira has decreased by 2.9% this month and 31% over the last six months.
According to an IMF analysis, inflation in Nigeria increased by 25% from 2022 to 2023 while it skyrocketed in Turkey by 51%, which resulted in a sharp decline in the purchasing power of TRY and NGN. This has probably increased interest in bitcoin, a fictitious currency.
Nigeria and Turkey both have sizable levels of cryptocurrency adoption. According to a September analysis by the research firm Chainalysis, Nigeria is the nation with the second-highest number of users engaged in cryptocurrency trading and decentralised finance (DeFi), right behind India. Turkey came in at number twelve out of the twenty countries.
This past week, excitement among cryptocurrency investors was sparked by expectations of a spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) approval in the United States. This led to bitcoin reaching 20% weekly gains and nearly record-breaking options activity.
Price volatility, which had been missing for a few months, appeared to be back this week as bitcoin shot up to $35,000 in a matter of hours due to irrational exuberance sparked by the discovery of a ticker linked to BlackRock’s proposed bitcoin ETF.